Rapid Fire Abstract session

36 Cardiovascular risk factors among east african immigrants: a retrospective 30-year cohort study Y Reuven, J Dreiher, P Shvartzman Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Siaal Research Center for Family Medicine and Primary Care, Division of Community Health, Beer Sheva, Israel Topic: Risk factors: others Background/Introduction: Previous studies reported an increasing prevalence of metabolic abnormalities in immigrants from low-cardiovascular-risk regions to Western countries, but little is known about time trends following immigration. Purpose: Evaluating the pattern of changes over time in the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors among three waves of immigration from East Africa to Israel. methods: A retrospective cohort study of East African immigrants from Ethiopia (EAI), the former Soviet Union (FSUI) and native-born Israelis (NBI) over a 35-year period. EAI were divided into three groups by date of immigration. Associations between ethnicity, age, sex and metabolic risk factors were assessed using logistic regression models. Results: The study included 58,901 individuals (20,768 EAI, 20,507 FSUI, and 17,626 NBI). Multivariate odds ratios (OR) for cardiovascular risk factors are presented in the table. For diabetes and hypertension, OR in EAI decreased over time (p for trend<0.001), while in FSUI the association with diabetes was not statistically significant, and the association with hypertension was stronger than in EAI. EAI were less likely to have dyslipidemia, but the strength of the association decreased over time (p<0.001), and FSUI were less likely to have dyslipidemia. EAI were also less likely to have obesity, but the strength of the association increased over time (p<0.001) while FSUI were more likely to have obesity). Conclusions: The prevalence of diabetes and hypertension was higher in EAI and increased over time, despite a lower prevalence of obesity. It exceeded the prevalence rates in NBI despite maintaining desirable BMI levels, reinforcing the need for re-defining optimal BMI ranges in relation to the ethnic origin.