Cardiovascular risk and access to primary care: Comparisons among Chinese documented and undocumented immigrants

•Undocumented immigrants are highly prevalent in a Chinese community (over 50 %).•It is in this group that new diagnoses of risk factors were mainly detected.•Registration with NHS was associated with higher level of awareness and rate of treatment for T2DM. The aim of this study was to examine main...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Diabetes research and clinical practice 2024-04, Vol.210, p.111645-111645, Article 111645
Main Authors: Pellegrino, Alessio, Calabrese, Maria, Boddi, Maria, Vacirca, Irene, Baccari, Cecilia, Bonvicini, Laura, Venturelli, Francesco, Petrelli, Alessio, Di Napoli, Anteo, Perticone, Maria, Rossi, Paolo Giorgi, Modesti, Pietro Amedeo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access to Primary Care
Ambulatory care-sensitive conditions
Awareness
Cardiovascular Diseases - epidemiology
China - epidemiology
Cholesterol
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - drug therapy
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - epidemiology
Heart Disease Risk Factors
Humans
Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors
Hypertension
Hypertension - drug therapy
Hypertension - epidemiology
Italy
Migrant health
Primary care
Risk Factors
State Medicine
Transients and Migrants
Type 2 diabetes
Undocumented Immigrants
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:•Undocumented immigrants are highly prevalent in a Chinese community (over 50 %).•It is in this group that new diagnoses of risk factors were mainly detected.•Registration with NHS was associated with higher level of awareness and rate of treatment for T2DM. The aim of this study was to examine main risk factors of undocumented Chinese migrants living in Italy when compared with Chinese migrants registered with National Health Service (NHS). A cohort of 3435 Chinese first-generation immigrants living in Prato underwent blood pressure (BP) measurement and blood tests. Hypertension was diagnosed for BP ≥ 140/90 mmHg at 2 visits, and/or antihypertensive drug use; type 2 diabetes (T2DM) for fasting glucose ≥ 126 mg/dL at 2 visits, and/or use of hypoglycemic drugs; hypercholesterolemia (HC) for cholesterol ≥ 240 mg/dL and/or statins use. Subjects diagnosed with hypertension, T2DM, or HC unaware of their condition were considered newly diagnosed. Comparisons were performed using multivariable adjusted logistic regression analysis. A large proportion of Chinese migrants were undocumented (1766, 51 %); newly diagnoses of risk factors were performed especially among undocumented migrants; registration with NHS was associated with higher level of awareness for hypertension and T2DM and with 6 times higher rate of treatment for T2DM. Only a small minority of subjects with high cholesterol were treated with statins. Undocumented immigrants had high prevalence of risk factors with lower levels of awareness than migrants registered with the NHS. Health policies targeting this hard-to-reach population needs to be improved.
ISSN:0168-8227
1872-8227
DOI:10.1016/j.diabres.2024.111645