Study aims to understand relationship between health and ethnicity

Research follows up study which explored how risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes differ according to ethnicity <em> - News Release </em>

Issued by the Wellcome Trust and the British Heart Foundation

Over 4,000 people from different ethnic backgrounds are being invited to take part in the follow-up to an influential study which looked at how risk factors related to cardiovascular disease and diabetes differ according to a person's ethnicity. The original study, completed in 1991, studied people of white European, South Asian and African Caribbean origins from West London.

Funded by the Wellcome Trust and the British Heart Foundation (BHF), Southall and Brent Revisited (SABRE) aims to look at the health of the original participants as they have grown older, looking at whether they have developed or shown increased risk of developing diabetes or disorders of the heart or circulatory system.

A person's ethnic background is known to play a role in whether or not he or she is at increased or decreased risk from developing certain diseases. For example, South Asians and African Caribbean people are more likely to develop diabetes than white Europeans; however, whilst South Asians are also more likely to suffer from coronary heart disease, African Caribbean people are far less likely to suffer from the disease than white Europeans.

Professor Nishi Chaturvedi from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, who led the original study, will also head the team of doctors, nurses and researchers restudying the original volunteers.

A person's ethnic background is known to play a role in his or her risk of developing certain diseases.

"Our original cohort provides a unique and important group that will help us understand how the risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease increase with age and how a person’s ethnic background affects this risk," says Professor Chaturvedi. "This will also help doctors understand what sort of treatments and preventative measures are best for people of different ethnicities."

The researchers have begun contacting the original volunteers, many of whom have now moved away from London. Aged between 40-69 when they originally participated, some volunteers will now be in their eighties. Volunteers will be asked to complete questionnaires about their health, give permission for access to medical records and, where possible, participate in a series of health checks. These checks will include blood and urine tests, memory and problem solving, ultrasound and MRI scans and examinations of the retina and eye. All the tests are non-invasive and painless (apart from the blood tests). Results from the tests will be treated in strict confidence and will be made available to the volunteers, either directly or, where a degree of interpretation is required, through their GP.

Mrs Kaur took part in the original study eighteen years ago and has a family history of diabetes and heart disease. She welcomes the opportunity to take part again.

"Although I had no health problems when I took part in the study eighteen years ago, it is good to have this opportunity to have a thorough health check now," she says. "Sometimes when you’re feeling a bit unwell you wonder if it is something serious. So, not only do I benefit by taking part, but it is good to know that I am helping others by taking part in the research."

Ira Allison was born in Jamaica. He was 56 years old when he participated in the original study and was keen to be involved in the follow-up.

"It was good to have the health check seventeen years ago," comments Mr Allison. "The study team contacted me again recently and I have just been along to the clinic to have another health check. I enjoyed the day and I was happy to help in something that benefits other people, especially since I know a lot of people who have diabetes."

The original study was crucial to resolving earlier, conflicting reports and identifying previously unknown areas of risk. These included:

* identifying high levels of insulin resistance and associated diabetes in South Asians and highlighting this as the possible explanation for the elevated risk of coronary heart disease in this population;

* confirming definitively the high rates of hypertension in the African-Caribbean population;

* showing that these high rates of hypertension occurred whether migrants came from the Caribbean or direct from West Africa, refuting the "myth" that the higher blood pressure seen in African Americans was due to genetic selection;

* enabling doctors to predict levels of diabetes and cardiovascular disease in a given, ethnically-diverse community.

"Before we conducted the original study, there were many conflicting reports and gaps in our understanding about how a person's ethnicity affected their health," says Professor Chaturvedi. "The study helped inform medical thinking a treatment guidelines, and we hope that our follow-up study will enhance greatly our understanding."

Qaim Zaidi, Ethnic Strategy Co-ordinator at BHF says: "We are delighted to be part funding this study which will undoubtedly reveal some very interesting results nearly seventeen years since the original study.

"The BHF has a very active programme of health promotion amongst ethnic minority communities and the results of this study will contribute to the evidence we use in order to focus our efforts where they are needed most. By understanding what risks are currently faced by different ethnic groups we will be able to target those communities with specific and up-to-date messages about changing diets and lifestyles."

Over the next three years, volunteers from the original study and their families will be contacted by the SABRE team and invited to participate in the study. Further information can be found at www.sabrestudy.org.uk.

-ends-

For further information please contact:

Craig Brierley
Media Officer
The Wellcome Trust
T: 020 7611 7329
E: c.brierley@wellcome.ac.uk