title: Metabolic changes in immigrants from Africa to a Western country: time-lag effects of 20 years since immigration.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  An increase in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus occurs in immigrants from developing regions to Western countries. However, the dynamics of these transitions in relation to the duration of residence in the new environment are not clearly defined.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data concerning cardiovascular risk factors were retrospectively extracted from medical charts of 736 Ethiopian immigrants and 575 randomly-chosen, age and sex matched non-Ethiopian subjects ("reference group"). Ethiopian immigrants were designated "established" (≥ 20 years of residence), "intermediate" (10-15 years of residence), or "recent" (<10 years of residence).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared to non-Ethiopians, the age- and sex-adjusted odds ratio (OR) for diabetes was 1.00 (95%CI: 0.66-1.49) for established, 0.55 (95%CI: 0.29-1.03) for intermediate, and 0.15 (95%CI: 0.04-0.50) for recent immigrants (P < 0.001). The corresponding OR for hypertension was 0.94 (95%CI: 0.68-1.31), 0.42 (95%CI: 0.26-0.69), and 0.14 (95%CI: 0.06-0.30) for the established, intermediate, and recent immigrants respectively (P < 0.001). In contrast to the gradual increase in prevalence of diabetes and hypertension, the Ethiopian immigrants maintained their lower body mass index (BMI) (28.7 ± 5 vs 25.5 ± 5 kg/m(2) respectively, P < 0.001) and serum low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (129 ± 36 vs 118 ± 34 mg/dL, P < 0.001) compared to the non-Ethiopians even after 20 years of residence in Israel.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of diabetes and hypertension among the immigrants increased to about half that of the local population within 15 years and became equal to that of the local population after a time-lag of 20 years. These metabolic derangements occurred despite maintaining desirable BMI levels, reinforcing the need for re-defining optimal BMI ranges in relation to the ethnic origin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine B, Soroka University Medical Center, Be'er-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Or
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kalchiem-Dekel
authors.affiliation: The S. Daniel Abraham International Center for Health and Nutrition, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Iris
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Shai
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Aya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Biderman
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Orenstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Assi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cicurel
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Yonatan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Reuven
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Soroka University Medical Center, Be'er-Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: Yaakov
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Henkin
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D063426:Human Migration; D006801:Humans; D008660:Metabolism
keywords: Ethiopian Jews; body mass index; hypertension; lipoproteins; metabolic syndrome; type 2 diabetes mellitus; 关键词：体重指数，埃塞俄比亚犹太人，高血压，脂蛋白，代谢综合征，2型糖尿病