Coronary risk factors in Italian migrants to Australia

Coronary risk factor levels (height, weight, blood pressure, serum total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, serum apo-HDL, physical activity, and smoking and drinking habits) were measured in 177 Italian migrants to Australia aged 20-79 years and 176 age-matched native-born Australians of Australian, British or New Zealand parentage. The Italian men had a lower mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure (125.0/79.8 mmHg) than the Australian men (129.4/82.3 mmHg), but Italians of both sexes had higher mean body mass indices (2.8 and 2.9 g/cm2) than Australians (2.4 and 2.5 g/cm2) and Italian women had a significantly lower mean serum HDL cholesterol concentration (1.16 mmol/liter) than Australian women (1.34 mmol/liter). The blood pressure differences between Italians and Australians were increased by adjustment of the means for differences between the two groups in age and obesity. There were slightly more current smokers and drinkers in Italian men than in Australian men; the opposite was true in women. Risk factor levels in Italians were influenced little by duration of residence in Australia. Mortality from ischemic heart disease in Italians in Italy and Italian migrants to Australia is between one third and two thirds that in native-born Australians. The small differences in coronary risk factors observed in this study appear insufficient to explain differences in ischemic heart disease mortality of this size.