Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #108640

Ranjita Misra, PhD, CHES¹, Thakor Patel, MD, MACP², Padmini Balagopal, RD, CDE³, Anoop Misra⁴, and N. Kamalamma, PhD³. (1) Health&Kinesiology Department, Texas A&M University, 4243 TAMU, 158P Read Building, College Station, TX 77843-4243, 979-845-8726, misra@hlkn.tamu.edu, (2) American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, 10980 Rice Field Place, Fairfax, VA 22039, (3) Department of Homescience, Gandhigram Rural Institute, Gandhigram - 624 302, Dindigul District, Tamilnadu, India, Ambuteria, India, (4) Department of Medicine, Professor, Ansarinagar, New Delhi, India

India has over a billion people, and Asian Indians are 3rd largest immigrant Asian groups in the United States. However cross-cultural and epidemiological study that examines the risk factors for Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in rural Indians, urban Indians, and Indian Americans is lacking. In this study, we report the prevalence of T2DM and obesity, and knowledge, perceptions, and risk factors for CVD using a community-based random design. Sample comprised of 600 rural Indians in Tamilnadu, 440 urban Indians in New Delhi and 740 migrant Asian Indians in the US (Houston, Phoenix, Washington DC, Boston, and San Diego). Data collection method involved both telephone interviews (US) and face-to-face interviews (India). Mean age was 39 years (rural), 42 years (urban), and 47 years (US sample). The majority of respondents were of normal weight (BMI<25 kg/m2), males, and married. Prevalence of obesity was lowest for rural Indians but similar in the urban Indians and immigrant Indians in the US. Rural Indians had highest HDL values, and lower values for cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL, CRP, and fasting blood sugar as compared to the urban and migrant population. The prevalence of T2DM was; Indian Americans: 21 %; India; urban: 9.5%, and rural: 4.5%. A high prevalence of impaired fasting glucose and hypertriglyceridemia was also noted. Results also show that knowledge and awareness of risk factors of CVD and T2DM is very low, even in educated Indians living in the US. Implications of the results will be discussed.

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