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Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among Asian Americans: Perspectives on the Role of Acculturation in Cardiovascular Diseases Health Disparities

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Abstract

The growing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in the United States (US) has disproportionately affected minority populations more than their white counterparts. A population that is often overlooked is the Asian American population, particularly Southeastern Asian immigrants. Despite having relatively favorable socioeconomic indicators compared to the general US population, Asian Americans, specifically Southeast Asian individuals, face a significant burden of traditional cardiovascular risk factors and are considered a high cardiovascular disease risk group. In addition, most studies have aggregated Asian populations into one major racial group rather than analyzing the different ethnicities among the Asian categorization. While some studies suggest that the acculturation process has some degree of impact on cardiovascular health, there has not been a widely-used tool to measure or ascertain the totality of acculturation. Instead, multiple proxies have been used to measure acculturation, and prior studies have argued for more culturally-tailored acculturation proxies. This paper aims to assess the implications of different acculturation measures on cardiovascular health among Asian Americans, particularly Southeastern Asian immigrants. The following proxies were expanded on in this paper: English spoken at home, length of stay in the US, religiosity and spirituality, and admixed family structures. Previous studies showed that as the length of stay in the US increases, the burden of cardiovascular risk factors increases. However, the impact of English spoken at home, religiosity, and admixed family structure are still inconclusive given the extent of current studies. While most studies suggest that an increase in acculturation increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, it is critical to note that acculturation is a multifaceted process. Therefore, more studies are necessary to appropriately examine the implications of various acculturation processes on cardiovascular risk factors in Asians, specifically Southeastern Asian individuals in the US.

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Funding

This work was supported by the CTSA (UL1TR002649 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences) and the CCTR Endowment Fund of Virginia Commonwealth University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Pharmacy, Richmond, VA, 23298, USA

    Victoria Vo, Shravani Malay & Youssef M. Roman

  2. Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, 23298, USA

    Glydel Lopez

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VV, GL, and SM: conducted the literature review and wrote the first draft and reviewed the final draft, YMR: conceptualization, methodology, supervision, writing—review and editing, and final approval of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Youssef M. Roman.

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Vo, V., Lopez, G., Malay, S. et al. Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among Asian Americans: Perspectives on the Role of Acculturation in Cardiovascular Diseases Health Disparities. J Immigrant Minority Health 26, 409–420 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-023-01489-y

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