Coronary heart disease in Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis: aetiology and possibilities for prevention.

Coronary heart disease in Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis: aetiology and possibilities for prevention High rates of coronary heart disease in people of South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi) origin were first reported from Singapore, South Africa, and Trinidad in the 1950s;' similar findings were recorded in the United Kingdom at the time of the 1971 census.23 Reliable population-based data on coronary mortality from South Asia are not available but in two northem Indian cities the prevalence of electrocardiographic major Q waves was reported to be at least as high as in European populations.45 In England and Wales in 1979-83 coronary mortality was 36% higher in men born in South Asia and 46% higher in women born in South Asia aged 20-69 years than in the general population.6 This narrowing ofthe sex difference in coronary risk occurs in other overseas South Asian popula- tions; in South Africa in 1985 the relative risk of coronary death in Indians compared with Europeans was 1-3 in men and 1-7 in women.7 The relative risk of coronary disease in South Asian men is highest at early ages: in 1979-83 coronary mortality in men aged less than 40 years bom in South Asia was more than twice the national average.6 The