Asian Indians living in the United States should take extra care to keep their weight down and avoid unhealthy lifestyles, health experts warn.
Heart attacks from coronary artery disease (CAD) have been the leading cause of death in the United States for years.
A recent study by Dr. Enas A. Enas, an Illinois-based cardiologist, revealed the death rate from CAD among overseas Indians is 50 percent to 300 percent higher than among Chinese, Europeans and Japanese.
Enas addressed an ad hoc committee at El Camino Hospital last Thursday to explore ways the hospital can respond to the health crisis in the Indian community in Silicon Valley.
His study found about 50 percent of heart attacks among Indian men occur under the age of 55 and 25 percent under the age of 40, which is unheard of in other populations.
Enas said the data underscores the need for early, aggressive and unconventional approaches for the prevention and treatment of CAD.
“Within recent decades CAD has become highly predictable, preventable and treatable,” Enas said. “The adverse effects of conventional risk factors related to lifestyle have an influence. Smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes become markedly magnified.”
Enas said the conventional risk factors do not fully explain the excess incidence of CAD among Indians, but that these risk factors are doubly important in Indians and remain the principal targets for prevention and treatment.
“It appears the increase in CAD risk from a weight gain of 10 pounds or smoking 10 cigarettes by Indians is similar to a 30-pound weight gain or smoking 30 cigarettes by other populations,” Enas said.
Among the principal targets for prevention and treatment, the study offers several insights for Indians.
Early adoption of daily exercise (45 to 60 minutes or 400 to 500 calories) is crucial, along with the avoidance of tobacco. Watching saturated fat intake and waist size is as important as – if not more important than – watching cholesterol level and body weight.
According to Enas, a waist circumference greater than 32 inches in Indian women and 36 inches in Indian men is a powerful predictor of diabetes and CAD.
Treatment goals for diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity should be at least 10 percent lower and cholesterol levels 20 percent lower for Indians than the level recommended for Americans and Europeans.
“Safe and effective medications are now available to achieve these goals,” Enas said. “Such medications should be viewed as a supplement rather than a substitute for early, aggressive changes in lifestyle.”
The term Asian Indian refers to those who trace their origin to the four countries in the Indian subcontinent: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
