Risk factors for cardiovascular disease among Mexican-American adults in the United States and Mexico: a comparative study

OBJECTIVE: To compare cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in a cohort of Mexican health workers with representative samples of US-born and Mexico-born Mexican-Americans living in the US. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were obtained from the Mexican Health Worker Cohort Study (MHWCS) in Mexico and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) IV 1999-2006 in the US. Regression analyses were used to investigate CVD risk factors. RESULTS: In adjusted analyses, NHANES participants were more likely than MHWCS participants to have hypertension, high total cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, and abdominal obesity, and were less likely to have low HDL cholesterol and smoke. Less-educated men and women were more likely to have low HDL cholesterol, obesity, and abdominal obesity. CONCLUSIONS: In this binational study, men and women enrolled in the MHWCS appear to have fewer CVD risk factors than US-born and Mexico-born Mexican-American men and women living in the US.