American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 133, No. 12: 1257-1265
Copyright © 1991 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
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Elevated Blood Pressure among Southeast Asian Refugee Children in Minnesota
1Department of Preventive Medicine and Environrnental Health, University of Iowa College of Medicine Iowa City, IA
2Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Miami School of Medicine Miami, FL
3Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Departments of Pediatrics and Pharmacology, University of Minnesota School of Medicine Minneapolis, MN
Reprint requests to Dr. Ronald G. Munger, Department of Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health, 2830 Steindler Building, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA 52242
The blood pressures and body sizes of children aged 10–15 years in the Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, public schools were measured during 1986 and 1987. The sample consisted of 1,680 Southeast Asian refugees—including 219 Cambodians, 1,086 Hmong, 149 Lao, and 226 Vietnamese—and 3,424 blacks and 11,336 whites. Mean systolic blood pressure in Hmong boys was higher than that in black boys and white boys. Mean systolic blood pressures of Hmong, Lao, and Vietnamese girls were lower than those of black girls and white girls. The mean diastolic blood pressures of Hmong boys and of Cambodian and Hmong girls were greater than those of blacks and whites of the same sexes. Southeast Asian children were shorter and weighed less than black children and white children. Body size may confound associations between ethnic groups and blood pressures and may obscure the problem of hypertension among the smaller Southeast Asian children. Southeast Asian boys had greater mean systolic blood pressures than did black and white boys across all weight strata; a similar contrast among girls did not reveal this difference. The risk of hypertension, defined by US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute guidelines, was assessed in multiple logistic regression analyses that controlled for differences in weight, height, age, and pulse rate. The odds ratios for hypertension, relative to blacks and whites of the same sexes, were 2.69 (95% confidence interval (Cl) 1.85–3.65) in Hmong boys, 2.89 (95% Cl 1.35–6.21) in Lao boys, 2.10 (95% Cl 1.03–4.28) in Cambodian girls, and 1.49 (95% Cl 1.00–2.20) in Hmong girls. Hypertension and subsequent cardiovascular disease may emerge as a significant problem among Southeast Asian refugees in the United States.
adolescence; blood pressure; child; hypertension; refugees; Southeast Asians
Dr. Ronald G. Munger was supported by postdoctoral fellowship RO1-HL-19877 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Dr. Alan R Sinaiko was supported by grant 1-RO1-HL34659-01 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
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