Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved
Volume 12, Issue 2, 2001, Pages 224-235

Russian immigrant cardiovascular risk assessment (Article)

Mehler P.S.* , Scott J.Y. , Pines I. , Gifford N. , Biggerstaff S. , Hiatt W.R.
  • a Div. of General Internal Medicine, Denver Health Medical Center, Univ. of Colorado Hlth. Sci. Center, 660 Bannock Street, Denver, CO 80204, United States
  • b Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, Colorado Prevention Center, 789 Sherman Street, Denver, CO 80204, United States
  • c Div. of General Internal Medicine, Denver Health Medical Center, Univ. of Colorado Hlth. Sci. Center, 660 Bannock Street, Denver, CO 80204, United States
  • d Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, Colorado Prevention Center, 789 Sherman Street, Denver, CO 80204, United States
  • e Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, Colorado Prevention Center, 789 Sherman Street, Denver, CO 80204, United States
  • f Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatrics, Colorado Prevention Center, 789 Sherman Street, Denver, CO 80204, United States

Abstract

Immigration from the former Soviet Union has been increasing. In 1990, there were 454,000 Russian immigrants living in the United States. Lifestyle habits prevalent in Russia, including smoking, alcoholism, and little preventive health, are compelling medical and economic reasons to understand the health status of this population. This study identified a cohort of Russian-born subjects living in Denver to characterize their cardiovascular risk profile. Using a risk assessment questionnaire, 204 Russian immigrants were screened. Seventy-one percent had Medicaid insurance; 14 percent were medically indigent. Those aged 55 to 64 years had a higher prevalence of hyperlipidemia (p < 0.04) and hypertension (p < 0.03) than U.S. counterparts; those age 20 to 34 and 65 to 74 years had a higher prevalence of hypertension (p < 0.00001). Almost half of the participants had two or more cardiac risk factors. Cardiac risk factor identification and intervention programs may help to reduce the health care costs for these patients.

Author Keywords

Russian immigrants Alcoholism Cardiac risk factors Hypertension Hyperlipidemia smoking Preventive health

Index Keywords

Russia Colorado Cardiovascular Diseases Population Surveillance human risk assessment middle aged statistics Cohort Studies comparative study Aged ethnology United States Humans cardiovascular disease male female Article adult migration cohort analysis Emigration and Immigration Russian Federation health survey
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-0035347542&doi=10.1353%2fhpu.2010.0822&partnerID=40&md5=0a8e01c603474eadf962f12d88a2c09e
DOI: 10.1353/hpu.2010.0822
ISSN: 10492089
Cited by: 20
Original Language: English