Relationship between electrocardiogram with diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome in Japanese-Brazilians.
BACKGROUND
When the Japanese immigrated to the Americas, they were subjected to Westernization, with a great change in lifestyle, specially in dietary habits, and this may explain the increase in the incidence of diabetes mellitus (DM), metabolic syndrome (MS) and cardiovascular disease among them.


OBJECTIVE
To study the presence of myocardial necrosis and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in a population of Japanese-Brazilians, using the ECG and its relationship with DM and MS.


METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study which evaluated 1,042 Japanese-Brazilians aged 30 or over, 202 of them born in Japan (Issei) and 840 of them born in Brazil (Nissei), from the second phase of the Japanese-Brazilian Diabetes Study Group initiated in 2000. MS was defined according to the NCEP-ATP III criteria modified for the Japanese. DM and MS were associated with the presence of myocardial necrosis (according to the Minnesota criteria) and LVH (according the Perugia score on the ECG). The statistic chi square method was used to reject the null hypothesis.


RESULTS
Of the 1,042 participants, 35.3% had DM (38.6% of the Issei and 34.5% of the Nissei); 51.8% had MS (59.4% of the Issei and 50.0% of the Nissei). The presence of an inactive zone in the diabetic Issei group was not statistically significant when compared to the non-diabetic group, but among the diabetic Nissei group an inactive zone was present in 7.5% of them. There was a statistically significant correlation between MS and LVH in the Issei and Nissei groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Metabolic disorders presented a high prevalence in Japanese-Brazilians with significant correlations with necrosis and hypertrophy on the ECG.
Brollo
Luigi
L
Departamento de Medicina, EPM, Unifesp, São Paulo, SP, Brasil. Luigi Brollo
Bombig
Maria Teresa Nogueira
MT
Mazzaro
Cleber do Lago
Cdo L
Francisco
Yoná Afonso
YA
Fonseca
Francisco Antonio Helfenstein
FA
Carvalho
Antonio Carlos Camargo
AC
Harima
Helena
H
Hirai
Amélia
A
Povoa
Rui
R
D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001938:Brazil; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology; D004562:Electrocardiography; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology; D007564:Japan / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology*; D009336:Necrosis