Abstract 4139303: Temporal Trends in Cardiovascular Risk Factors and Cardiovascular Disease among Middle Eastern Immigrants in the National Health Interview Survey 2004-2018

Introduction: Historically, Middle-Eastern (ME) immigrants have been aggregated with Non-Hispanic White (NHW) individuals, masking disparities in cardiovascular diseases (CVD). This study analyzes yearly data from 2004-2018 to assess changes in the prevalence of CVD and the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) risk factors among ME immigrants. Hypothesis: Trends in CVD and LE8 risk factors from 2004-2018 will differ between ME immigrants and NHW adults. Methods: We used sample adult data limited to ME immigrant and US-born NHW adults ≥18 years of age in the National Health Interview Survey, a nationally representative household US survey for years 2004-2018. The study assessed the prevalence of CVD (heart attack, angina pectoris, coronary heart disease, other heart conditions, or stroke) and LE8 risk factors: insufficient physical activity (PA), nicotine exposure, sleep duration, obesity, physician-diagnosed high cholesterol, diabetes, and hypertension. Survey-weighted, multivariable logistic regression controlling for age, sex, family income-poverty-ratio, marital status, and years in the US was used to model the linear relationship between survey year and the prevalence of CVD and risk factors. Results: Our study sample included 534,278 adults (93.2% NHW&6.8% ME immigrants), representing 179,176,566 adults living in the US (mean age= 45.9 years, [SD=18.9]) with 51% being female. Trends for NHW adults showed decreases in CVD, insufficient PA, and nicotine exposure, but increases in sleep duration, obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes, and hypertension (Table). For ME immigrants, no significant changes were observed over time for most risk factors (p>0.05). However, each year was associated with lower odds of insufficient PA and higher odds of hypertension prevalence. Conclusion: Between 2004-2018, NHW adults had varying trends in CVD and LE8 risk factors whereas ME immigrant adults experienced a similar decrease only in insufficient physical activity prevalence and a greater increase in hypertension prevalence. Future research should focus on sustaining increases in physical activity and addressing hypertension in ME immigrant populations.