South Asian adults living in the United States appear to develop key cardiovascular risk factors earlier than other racial and ethnic groups, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Researchers analyzed data from approximately 2,700 adults aged 45 to 55 years from two large US cohort studies: the MASALA (Mediators of Atherosclerosis in South Asians Living in America) study and the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). The South Asian cohort included individuals with ancestry from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, or Sri Lanka. Findings were compared with White, Black, Hispanic, and Chinese adults of similar age.
The study examined major atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk factors, including high blood pressure, prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, and dyslipidemia, along with lifestyle measures such as diet, physical activity, and alcohol use.
At age 45, South Asian men had a substantially higher prevalence of prediabetes (30.7 percent) compared with White (3.9 percent), Chinese (12.6 percent), Black (10.4 percent), and Hispanic (10.5 percent) men. South Asian women also had higher rates of prediabetes (17.6 percent) than women in the other groups. By age 55, South Asian adults were at least twice as likely to have type 2 diabetes as white adults of the same age.
High blood pressure was more common among South Asian men at age 45 (25.5 percent) than among White, Chinese, and Hispanic men. Dyslipidemia was also highly prevalent among South Asian men. Despite these findings, South Asian participants reported relatively healthy dietary patterns and lower alcohol use compared with some other groups.
The results suggest that cardiometabolic risk accumulates earlier in South Asian adults, even when lifestyle factors appear favorable. This highlights the importance of earlier and proactive screening for blood pressure, fasting glucose or hemoglobin A1c, and lipid abnormalities in South Asian patients.
The authors note limitations, including selection bias, self-reported lifestyle data, and differences in the timing of data collection between the two cohorts.
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