Cardiovascular disease mortality varies among Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino Americans

Cardiovascular risk factor and disease mortality vary significantly among Asian Indians, Chinese, and Filipino Americans, with Filipino Americans having the highest mortality across most cardiovascular conditions, according to a research letter published online July 29 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Rahul Aggarwal, M.D., from Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart and Vascular Center in Boston, and colleagues examined cardiovascular risk factors and disease mortality among Asian Indian, Chinese, and Filipino American subgroups in the United States using data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention WONDER database (2018 to 2023).

The researchers found that overall cardiovascular age-standardized mortality rates (ASMRs) were highest among Filipino Americans for women and men (175.6 and 248.3 deaths per 100,000 population). Similar ASMRs were seen for Asian Indian American and Chinese American women (157.7 and 155.4 per 100,000). Asian Indian Americans had higher ASMRs than Chinese Americans among men (184.1 versus 170.1 per 100,000).

Compared with Asian Indian and Chinese American women, Filipino American women had the highest ASMR due to stroke, hypertension, and diabetes. Compared with Chinese American women, Asian Indian American women had higher heart disease and diabetes ASMRs, but lower stroke and hypertension ASMRs. Men had higher ASMRs than women across all cardiovascular subtypes; differences among Asian American subpopulations were similar for men and women.

“Tailoring screening, diagnosis, and prevention strategies to the unique risk profiles of Asian Indian, Chinese, and Filipino Americans could help decrease cardiovascular risk,” the authors write.

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