Study Finds U.S. South Asians Face Elevated Midlife Diabetes and Hypertension Risk

Overview

• By age 45, nearly one in three South Asian men had prediabetes (31%) and one in four had hypertension, while about 18% of South Asian women had prediabetes.
• By age 55, South Asian men and women were at least twice as likely to develop diabetes as white adults, with the highest estimated hazard among all groups.
• The longitudinal study combined MASALA and MESA data to follow about 2,700 U.S. adults aged 45–55 over roughly a decade, and was published Feb. 11 in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
• Participants of South Asian heritage reported healthier diets, lower alcohol use, comparable physical activity and lower average BMI, yet showed higher cardiometabolic risk than white and Chinese peers.
• Investigators point to potential contributors such as greater visceral fat and early‑life exposures, and recommend earlier checks of blood pressure, fasting glucose or A1c, cholesterol and lipoprotein(a) with culturally appropriate prevention.