Key Summary
- People of South Asian heritage are at risk for experiencing several chronic illnesses.
- The study analysed data of 23,000 British Bangladeshi and British Pakistani people.
- The findings provide evidence to consider offering health checks to people at higher risk.
South Asian women and younger people in the UK are more likely to experience multimorbidity, according to a new study.
The study, conducted by researchers at Queen Mary University of London, looked at two major conditions: mental health and cardiometabolic disease - focusing on a common type of multimorbidity of anxiety and depression (internalising disorders) as well as hypertension, diabetes, and kidney disease.
Co-occurrence of multiple long-term mental or physical health condition in one's lifetime is called 'multimorbidity', the combined effects of which can greatly impact a person's quality of life.
The study was published in the journal PLOS Medicine.
The order in which one developed health conditions also appeared to matter. For example, developing a cardiometabolic condition before a mental health one was related with a higher likelihood of a more serious health event, like a heart attack or kidney failure.
The researchers said that people with South Asian heritage are particularly at risk for experiencing several chronic illnesses together, but no previous research on the factors that contribute to this trend has been conducted.
Little is also known about the order in which the conditions develop, or what drives the trends in South Asian populations, they said.
The study analysed data of 23,000 British Bangladeshi and British Pakistani people, who are part of the ongoing Genes and Health Study - one of the world's largest community-based genetics studies.
The authors said, "Women, younger people, those living in more deprived areas, and those of Bangladeshi ethnicity were most likely to develop this type of multimorbidity, and men were at higher risk of major cardiovascular or renal events.
"People who developed a cardiometabolic condition before an internalising health condition had a slightly higher risk of major cardiovascular or renal events than those whose mental health condition came first.”
The team added that an early onset of cardiometabolic and mental health conditions in British Bangladeshi and British Pakistani people is often the first step on a pathway towards multimorbidity.
Chances of developing health conditions
For some groups, the risk was found to be particularly striking - a healthy 30-year-old Bangladeshi woman has around a one in two chance of developing a cardiometabolic or mental health condition by the age of 40, and a one in eight chance of developing multimorbidity involving both.
Ten-year cardiovascular or renal risk was found to be highest for people who developed multimorbidity via the trajectory cardiometabolic-to-internalising, compared to internalising-to-cardiometabolic, in mid-life or age 40.
Knowledge of the trends can be used to advise medical professionals to pursue earlier screenings and preventative care for patients who may be more at risk, the authors said.
The findings also provide evidence to consider offering health checks to people at higher risk in their 20s and 30s, rather than waiting until later in life, they added.
