and diabetes shown for Indians and Sri Lankans

Australian research has found that Indians and Sri Lankans living in Australia have earlier onset cardiovascular disease that occurs at lower body weights, and higher rates of diabetes than Anglo Australians.

Being presented at this week’s Australian Diabetes Society Annual Scientific Meeting, Jean Hailes Foundation study coordinator Sabrina Gupta and study leaders Prof Helena Teede and Dr Rosalie Aroni are keen to work closely with South Asian communities and their healthcare providers to improve awareness and education about diabetes and heart disease risks.

“There are approximately 200,000¹ Sri Lankans and Indians living in Australia with a high concentration living in Melbourne,” Ms Gupta said. “Their risk of heart disease is 3-4 times higher than Anglo communities and 20 times higher than Japanese communities. To date there has been little research on the prevalence of diabetes, heart disease risk factors and severity of heart disease in South Asians living Western lifestyles.”

Funded by the Jean Hailes Foundation for Women’s Health, the Jean Hailes study is a collaboration with Southern Health and Monash University, aiming to document diabetes, heart disease risk factors and heart disease severity in Australian-dwelling South Asians, presenting with heart disease.

A retrospective case audit has already compared South Asian to Anglo Australian patients who presented with an episode of heart disease in 2005/06 at Southern Health, the largest health care organisation in Victoria. These results showed South Asians had a lower mean age of heart disease (52 vs 55), lower BMI (26 vs 29) and higher rates of diagnosed diabetes (68% vs 32%) than Anglo Australians.

“These findings highlighted the need for greater research in order to identify ways to provide further services and education about risk for both health professionals and members of South Asian communities living in Australia,” Ms Gupta said.

For the next phase of the study researchers are looking for both Melbourne-based Anglo Australians and Melbourne-based Australians of Indian or Sri Lankan background with diabetes or heart disease to take part. Participants need to be aged 18 to 70 and willing to take part in a face-to-face chat. “You don’t need to travel as we are happy to come to you.”

Those interested can call Ms Gupta on 0407 575 853 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it