Cardiovascular risk factors in Mexico and the United States: a comparative cross-sectional study between the HABLE and MHAS participants.

INTRODUCTION

In the United States, information on the Mexican-American population is available through the Health and Aging Brain among Latino Elders (HABLE) study; in Mexico, the results of the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS) are available.

OBJECTIVE

To compare the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors between men and women of the HABLE and MHAS studies.

METHOD

The prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia and abdominal obesity was transversely analyzed in 559 HABLE participants and compared with data from 13,663 MHAS participants. The comparison was made using Student's t-test and the chi-square test, according to the type of variable.

RESULTS

The analysis showed that the prevalence of hypertension (50 %, 95 % CI = 41.8-51.8), diabetes (35.5 %, 95 % CI = 27.6-43.8) and abdominal obesity (59.3 %, 95 % CI = 50.5-68.1) were significantly higher in HABLE males, whereas females had a higher prevalence of diabetes (36.8 %, 95 % CI = 32.2-41.5) and abdominal obesity (89.6 %, 95 % CI = 86.6-92.5). Hypercholesterolemia had a higher prevalence in MHAS females (53.3%, 95% CI = 50.3-56.2).

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors was higher in Mexican American HABLE participants, than in Mexican MHAS participants.