title: Relationship between electrocardiogram with diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome in Japanese-Brazilians.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina, EPM, Unifesp, São Paulo, SP, Brasil. Luigi Brollo
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brollo
authors.forename: Maria Teresa Nogueira
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Bombig
authors.forename: Cleber do Lago
authors.initials: Cdo L
authors.lastname: Mazzaro
authors.forename: Yoná Afonso
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Francisco
authors.forename: Francisco Antonio Helfenstein
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Fonseca
authors.forename: Antonio Carlos Camargo
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Harima
authors.forename: Amélia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hirai
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Povoa
mesh_terms: 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