Diet, physical activity, and cardiovascular disease risk factors among older Chinese Americans living in New York City.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the US and affects Chinese Americans disproportionately compared to other ethnic groups in the American population. However, few studies have examined CVD risk factors, including diet and physical activity, in Chinese Americans. This investigation used a cross-sectional design to evaluate the dietary intake, dietary supplement use, and physical activity of 125 older Chinese Americans aged 50-98 years, and to determine how these behaviors may be related to obesity and other CVD risk factors. Sociodemographic information, CVD risk factors, dietary intake, and physical activity were obtained from all participants recruited from health fairs conducted in New York City (NYC). The findings revealed that older Chinese American adults living in NYC had a high prevalence of overweight and obesity, borderline hypertension, pre-diabetes, and diabetes. Many participants did not meet their daily requirements calcium, potassium, folate, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12, several minerals and vitamins important for cardiovascular health. Although most participants consumed an adequate numbers of servings of foods from the main food groups, most did not meet the recommended number of servings of dairy foods and only one in four adults took a multivitamin supplement daily. After adjusting for potential confounders, daily consumption of oil/sweets and dairy foods was positively associated with waist circumference. Also, daily consumption of oils/sweets, meats, and grains was positively associated with systolic blood pressure. The majority of the participants reported at least 30 min of moderate intensity physical activity per day. Dietary intake or supplement use did not show protective effects but performing vigorous physical activity may reduce risk of CVD in this population.

Distinct breast cancer subtypes in women with early-onset disease across races.

BACKGROUND: Racial disparities among breast cancer (BCa) patients are known but not well studied in early-onset BCa. We analyzed molecular subtypes in early-onset BCa across five major races. METHODS: A total of 2120 cases were included from non-Hispanic White (NHW), African American (AA) and Hispanic, Chinese and Indian. Based on ER, PR and HER-2 status, BCa was classified into 4 intrinsic subtypes as Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2/neu overexpression and Triple negative BCa (TNBC) subtypes. Data was stratified according to race and age as younger/early-onset group (40-years and younger) and older group (50-years and older). RESULTS: In early-onset BCa, incidence of TNBC was significantly higher (p = 0.0369) in Indian women followed by AA, Hispanic, NHW and Chinese women. Incidence of Her2 over-expression subtype also was highest in Indian women, followed by Hispanic, Chinese, AA and NHW women. In contrast, Luminal B subtype was most significantly higher in AA women (p = 0.0000) followed by NHW (p = 0.0002), Chinese (p = 0.0003), Hispanic (0.0128) and Indian (p = 0.0468) women. Luminal A subtype was most significantly reduced in Indian women (p = 0.0113) followed by Hispanic, AA, NHW and Chinese women. These results were based on statistical analysis with the mean of older group populations. CONCLUSIONS: These results show significant disparities in receptor subtypes across races. This study will contribute in developing optimal clinical trial protocols and personalized management strategies for early-onset BCa patients.