title: Cardiovascular risk factors among Asian Americans living in northern California.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent substantial immigration has created large population subsets of Asian Americans in the United States. Available data about cardiovascular risk factors in these persons are sparse.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study examined data among 13,031 persons self-classified as 5951 Chinese, 4211 Filipinos, 1703 Japanese, and 1166 other Asians. Covariates in regression analyses were age, smoking, alcohol, education, and marital status.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Chinese men and women had the lowest adjusted mean body mass index. Filipino men and women had the highest prevalence of hypertension. There were no major differences in blood glucose levels. Total cholesterol levels were highest in Japanese men and women. Comparisons of US-born persons and those born in respective countries of origin showed no major cholesterol or glucose differences; more hypertension only in Chinese and other Asian men; higher body mass index in men, but not in women of most ethnicities; and a lower smoking prevalence in men, but a substantially higher one in women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data show important ethnic differences in risk factors among Asian Americans and indicate groups that should be targeted for public health efforts concerned with obesity (Asian-American men), hypertension (Filipino-American men and women), hypercholesteremia (all Asian Americans), and smoking cessation (Asian-American women).
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Oakland, CA 94611.
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Klatsky
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Armstrong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology*; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000208:ethnology; D007564:Japan / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000208:ethnology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010679:Philippines / Q000208:ethnology; D011634:Public Health; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000208:ethnology; D014171:Transients and Migrants; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D002784:Cholesterol