Chinese American Cardiovascular Health Assessment-CHACHA

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Chinese are among the fastest growing immigrant populations in the United States (US). Compared with Chinese living in China, those living in the US have higher rates of several chronic diseases, including coronary heart diseases. On the other hand, they have lower stroke mortality than those living in China. More detailed knowledge about the changes of behavior and lifestyle related to immigration to the US, as well as psychosocial impact of immigration on risk of cardiovascular disease is needed to initiate an intervention program to prevent further increasing the burden of this disease among Chinese Americans. While the associations of dietary intake, physical activity, and cigarette smoking with cardiovascular outcomes have been widely documented in both Western countries and China, little information is available about Chinese immigrants to the US. Specifically, it is not known whether and how immigration and acculturation change behavior and lifestyle among Chinese in the US. We propose a community-based cross-sectional survey among Chinese residents in New York City. In this study, we will measure behavioral characteristics, including dietary intake, physical activity and cigarette smoking; psychosocial factors, including perceived stress and socioeconomic status; as well as cardiovascular risk status measured by Cardiovascular Global Risk Score from the Framingham Heart Program for 2,000 Chinese participants in New York City. While the impact of each behavioral characteristic and psychosocial factor on cardiovascular risk will be determined separately, the overall relationship of immigration and acculturation, behavior and lifestyle, psychosocial factors and cardiovascular risk status will be evaluated interactively. The result of this study will provide necessary information for health promotion and disease prevention intervention among immigrant populations, not only for Chinese immigrants, but for other immigrants to the US as well.