Marina Taloyan, Nuha Saleh-Stattin, Sven-Erik Johansson, Lars Agréus and Per Wändell
Aims: The aims of this study were [1] to estimate the prevalence of some cardiovascular risk factors among Assyrians/Syrians (n=173) and Swedes (n=181) with type 2 diabetes and [2] to analyze whether any association between ethnicity and cardiovascular risk factors remained after adjustment for lifestyle-related factors.
Methods: The associations between lifestyle-related factors and the outcome variables were calculated using unconditional logistic regression.
Results: Statistically significant differences were in the prevalence of elevated triglycerides, found in 61.5% of Swedes and 39.7% of Assyrians/Syrians. The same pattern was found in the prevalence of hypertension, which was 77.0% in Swedes and 58.0% in Assyrians/Syrians. In the final logistic models, adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, total weekly physical activity in winter, alcohol consumption and smoking, the odds ratios (ORs) of elevated triglycerides and hypertension remained significantly higher in Swedes than in the Assyrian/Syrian group. The OR of elevated triglycerides in Swedes was 3.74 (95% CI 1.95-7.20) and of hypertension, 2.95 (95% CI 1.61-5.41).
Conclusions: The higher odds of triglycerides and hypertension in Swedes could not be explained by the factors included in this study; future studies could focus on other factors, including biological factors that might help explain the differences.