EthnicMajority

(Medpage Today) More research is needed on cardiovascular disease in Asian Americans, a science advisory from the American Heart Association stated.

Although limited evidence has found variability in cardiovascular risk among Asian subgroups, most studies lump Asian Americans — the fastest growing racial-ethnic group in the country — into a single cohort, according to the advisory, which was published online in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

“We’ve done an excellent job in researching disparities in other minority groups, but great gaps remain in our knowledge about Asian Americans,” Latha Palaniappan, MD, chair of the AHA’s scientific advisory on cardiovascular disease in Asian Americans, said in a statement.

“We are making a call to action for national funding organizations that the study of Asian Americans should be a priority,” added Palaniappan, who is an investigator at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute in California.

Several major federal surveys have only recently begun dividing Asian Americans into subgroups, including the six largest — Asian Indian (or South Asian), Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese.

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