American Heart Association’s Ideal Cardiovascular Health Metrics in Under-Represented Asian Americans

Abstract

The American Heart Association’s ideal cardiovascular health score is based on 7 cardiovascular health metrics to measure progress toward their Impact Goal of reducing cardiovascular disease by 20 % before 2020. This study applied this construct to assess cardiovascular health in a sample of Asian Americans. Convenience sampling methods were used to enroll self-identified Asian American’s over the age of 18 years who were attending community health fairs across the greater Philadelphia and urban areas of New Jersey. The heart health metrics of tobacco use, body mass index, physical activity, diet, blood pressure, and glucose were measured. In the greater sample (N = 541), 82 % were female, the mean age was 65.1 (SD = 15.5) years, 45 % were Vietnamese, 38 % were Chinese and 17 % were Korean. Prevalence of ideal heart health for the metrics of tobacco use (95 %) was high. Only 19.4 % achieved ideal levels of physical activity, 35.1 % for BMI, 28.9 % for glucose and 66 % for blood pressure. Dietary intake was ideal for 20.7 % of the sample. More years since migration and Korean race trended toward having a higher prevalence of poor health in some metrics. Most Asian Americans are not achieving ideal cardiovascular health for several of the metrics evaluated, with those residing in the United States for more than 13 years and Korean Americans being higher-risk groups. Targeted community based intervention approaches to improving and monitoring heart health in Asian American, and Asian American subgroups, are needed.

Errors Associated with Aggregating Asian American Ethnic Groups in Diabetes Research, Education, and Clinical Practice

“…On top of that, even gender can be skewed. For example, Patterson, et al [15] reported a research study involving 82% female in a sample consisting of 45% Vietnamese, 38% Chinese, and 17% Korean. Moreover, even in cases when the research sample is predominantly one to three Asian American ethnic groups, the findings are applied to all Asian Americans.…”

“…Moreover, even in cases when the research sample is predominantly one to three Asian American ethnic groups, the findings are applied to all Asian Americans. As such, if a sample of hundreds to thousands of Asian Americans was predominantly one ethnic group, with only few participants from other Asian American ethnic groups, the results of the thousands (the predominant Asian American group) were reported as being representative for all members of the Asian American group represented by very few individuals [4,10,15]. The incorrect extrapolation of data from one Asian American ethnicity was commented on by Holland and Palaniappan [16].…”

A Study of Physical Activity Determinants among High-Risk Hypertensive Filipino and Korean Americans

“…Filipinos face high rates of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension compared to non-Hispanic Whites and other Asian American subgroups [2,3,4,5,6]. Additionally, Koreans face higher rates of hypertension, hypocholesteremia, cancer, and diabetes [7,8]. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a common chronic disease reported in Filipinos and Korean Americans and frequently is associated with poor dietary and lifestyle factors, including physical inactivity and elevated stress [1,9,10,11,12,13].…”

“…Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a common chronic disease reported in Filipinos and Korean Americans and frequently is associated with poor dietary and lifestyle factors, including physical inactivity and elevated stress [1,9,10,11,12,13]. Studies investigating hypertension prevalence in these groups found rates ranging from 48−67.5% in Filipinos and 30.8−53% in Koreans [8,14,15,16,17,18]. Hypertension prevention and management are important issues that require greater attention in these populations.…”

“…Among Koreans, a recent systematic review examining cardiovascular risk factors found rates of physical activity to range from 12.8−13.3% participating in adequate moderate physical activity and 11.6%−58.8% participating in adequate vigorous activity [18]. In a study conducted among Korean Americans living in Philadelphia, only 22% of participants were meeting the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) physical activity guidelines of 150 or more minutes of moderate activity, 75 minutes or more of vigorous activity, or an equivalent combination [8].…”