New Study Shows Simple Actions Wipe Out Huge Higher Heart Risks For Asian Diabetics
New research, to be revealed on Tuesday 26th of April at the
launch of the University of Warwick Medical School's new Clinical
Sciences Research Institute at the University Hospital campus at
Walsgrave in Coventry, has shown that very simple interventions to
target the health care of UK Asian diabetics can almost wipe out
the 40% higher risks of heart disease linked to diabetes in that
community.
Warwick Medical School researcher Dr Paul O'Hare will use the
launch of the Clinical Sciences Research Institute to outline that
diabetes is four times more common in the UK Asian population than
it is among Caucasians. Onset of diabetes can also be over a decade
earlier among Asian patients and Asian diabetics face a much higher
risk of renal and heart complications leading to a 40% higher
mortality rate compared with Caucasians.
The researchers also point out that, on top of these increased
diabetes risk faced by the Asian population, cultural and
communication differences make health care delivery much more
challenging for this community group.
The researchers studied what the effect would be of a special
effort to target and reach out to the Asian community on the issue
of diabetic and related health care. This effort attempted to
overcome the health care delivery challenges posed by that
community and tried to address the substantially increased health
risks they faced in this case. They observed the results of this
special pilot package of diabetes health care outreach to over 500
UK Asians in Coventry and Birmingham. The simple package included
the use of multi-lingual Asian health workers led by a community
diabetes specialist nurse.
The researchers found this approach provided a number of benefits
but one of the most significant was an average drop in blood
pressure of around 4mmHg in the Asian patients - research has shown
that such a drop in blood pressure leads to a 35% reduction in the
risk of heart disease. The simple tools of this new pilot outreach
effort to the UK Asians had thus, in just one parameter, almost
completely wiped out the huge 40% increased risk of heart disease
traditionally faced by that community.
The researchers have now scaled their research up to a study of
around 2000 people that will consider a wide range of possible
diabetes-related health effects and implications for the NHS.
Note for Editors: The research was carried out in
conjunction with researchers from Warwick Business School,
Birmingham and Open Universities.
For further details contact:
Dr J Paul O'Hare, Warwick Medical School,
University of Warwick Tel: 0)24 7657 2552 or 024 76 573086
J.P.O-Hare@warwick.ac.uk
Or Professor Sudhesh Kumar, Warwick Medical School University of
Warwick,
Tel: 024 765 74869 Sudhesh.Kumar@warwick.ac.uk
Peter Dunn, Press & Media Relations Manager
University of Warwick, Tel: 024 76 523708
Email: p.j.dunn@warwick.ac.uk
PR31 25th April 2005