Disease risk higher for long-term immigrants

People who immigrated to Canada several years ago and in particular the Chinese, are more likely to contract heart disease than the newcomers, because the former are more likely to become obese.

This is the conclusion arrived at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in a study published Monday.

"We found that there is a negative effect of acculturation because of long-time residents of Ontario have higher cardiovascular risk that recent immigrants, reported the researcher Maria Chiu. The decline on cardiovascular health varied by ethnic group. The steepest decline was seen in the Chinese group, followed by whites, blacks and groups in South Asia. "

This reflects the fact that the Chinese groups in Canada for over 15 years were exposed for longer to Western culture. During this period, many have indeed taken the bad habit of smoking and many have become diabetic.

Canada welcomes more than 250,000 newcomers each year. Most of them settle in Ontario.

The Foundation of heart disease in Ontario has launched a program in 2006 to target the needs of ethnic populations cardiovascular, said the research director Vincent Bowman.

"By having a better understanding of the risk of cardiovascular disease related to the number of years in Canada, it will help to create preventive strategies to prevent heart disease," he said.

What distinguishes the Chinese population of whites is the increased incidence of diabetes is higher among Chinese groups long established in Canada for newcomers.