The latest research on why South Asians around the world are more susceptible to heart disease and diabetes is to be presented at a conference in Leicester.
Kamlesh Khunti, Professor of Primary Care Diabetes and Vascular Medicine in the University of Leicester Department of Health Sciences, next Tuesday will tell the conference: Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease in South Asians: Nature, Nurture or Karma, that the risk factors for diabetes and heart disease are raised in a substantial number of South Asian people at a much younger age than their white British counterparts.
He said: "In the UK South Asians are the largest minority group and comprise 4% of the population. A consistent finding in migrant South Asian populations is a higher prevalence of diabetes and a higher incidence and prevalence of premature coronary heart disease than the local populations. For example, in the UK, mortality from coronary heart disease is 50% higher among those of South Asian origin than in the general non-Asian population.
"The reasons for this increased risk are not well understood."
Speaking to OnMedica, Professor Khunti said simple self assessment tools could be used, such as waist circumference, to identify patients at high risk.
"These people would then require further assessment in primary care," he said.