[Risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in Turks in Amsterdam and in Ankara]

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of the main risk factors for cardiovascular disease in Turks in Amsterdam and in Ankara, and to compare the results obtained in these two groups with each other and also with those obtained in a group of indigenous Dutch residents living in the same districts.

Design: Cross-sectional observational study.

Setting: Districts 'Oost' and 'De Pijp' in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 'Camlik' and 'Beşikkaya' in Ankara, Turkey.

Methods: Plasma glucose and lipids were determined in 149 Turkish residents living in Amsterdam and 145 Turkish subjects in Ankara with comparable socio-economic status (66 and 74% of those who were asked to participate). Blood pressure was also measured by mercury sphygmomanometry. Questionnaires were completed on smoking habits, alcohol consumption, physical activity, consumption of food containing saturated fat, and the existence of heart and vascular disease or hypertension. Results were compared between groups and also with the findings obtained in a group of indigenous Dutch subjects living in the same districts in Amsterdam by the Peilstationsproject of the Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (Sounding station project, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment).

Results: Turkish men in Amsterdam had higher systolic blood pressures, lower HDL cholesterol values and higher total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratios, and were more obese than men in Ankara and Dutch men in Amsterdam. Glucose concentration and total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol concentrations of Turkish men in Amsterdam were higher than the values of men in Ankara. The risk profile of Turkish women was also more unfavourable compared with that of women in Ankara, but the differences were less than in the men. They had lower HDL cholesterol values, higher LDL cholesterol and glucose and smoked more often than women in Ankara. Turkish women in Amsterdam also had higher systolic and diastolic blood pressures and were more obese than Dutch women in Amsterdam.

Conclusion: Turkish residents in Amsterdam have more risk factors for cardiovascular disease than their countrymen living in Ankara, and also compared with indigenous Dutch citizens living in the same districts. Their risk factor profile, therefore, is not intermediary between that of Turkish subjects in Ankara and the indigenous Dutch citizens, as might be expected in view of the mortality figures.