Cardiovascular disease, diabetes and established risk factors among populations of sub-Saharan African descent in Europe: a literature review

Table 1 Comparison of disease outcomes and risk factor levels among populations of African descent in the UK and the Netherlands

	Men			Women
	African Caribbeans	Sub-Saharan Africans	African Surinamese	African Caribbeans	Sub-Saharan Africans	African Surinamese
Disease outcomes
Stroke [2–5]	+	+	+	+	+	+
Coronary heart disease [2–5]	-	-	-	-	-	-
Type II diabetes [26, 27, 34, 71]	+	+	+	+	+	+
Chemical measurement risk factors
High total cholesterol* [26, 89, 71]	-	-	-	-	-	-
Low HDL cholesterol [26, 89, 71]	-	-	-	-	=	-
ApoA-1 [89]	=			=
ApoB [89]	-			-
Physical measurement risk factors
Hypertension [23, 24]	+	+	+	+	+	+
Obesity (BMI > 30 kg/m²) [23, 24, 94, 97]	=	-	=	+	+	+
Abdominal obesity [23, 24, 94]	-	-	-	+	+	+
Self-reported risk factors
Current smoking [93, 94]	=	-	+	=	-	-
Alcohol consumption [93, 94]	-	-	-	-	-	-
Physical inactivity (non-adherence to recommendations) [66, 93]	=	+	+	-	=	+
Consumption of < 5 portions of fruit and vegetables* [93, 110]	-	-	- **	-	-	- **
Psychosocial stress [26, 122–125]	inconsistent	inconsistent		inconsistent	inconsistent

ISSN: 1744-8603