Cardiovascular Risk Estimation Based on Country-of-Birth- and Country-of-Residence-Specific Scores among Migrants in the Netherlands: The HELIUS Study

James Osei-Yeboah, Eric P. Moll van Charante, Andre-Pascal Kengne, Ellis Owusu-Dabo, Henrike Galenkamp-van der Ploeg, Felix P. Chilunga, Daniel Boateng, Ehsan Motazedi, Charles Agyemang, Bert-Jan H van den Born

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Background: Regional and country-specific cardiovascular risk algorithms have been developed to improve CVD risk prediction. But it is unclear whether migrants’ country-of-residence or country-of-birth algorithms agree in stratifying the CVD risk of these populations. We evaluated the risk stratification by the different algorithms, by comparing migrant country-of-residence-specific scores to migrant country-of-birth-specific scores for ethnic minority populations in the Netherlands. Method: data from the HELIUS study was used in estimating the CVD risk scores for participants using five laboratory-based (Framingham, Globorisk, Pool Cohort Equation II, SCORE II, and WHO II) and three nonlaboratory-based (Framingham, Globorisk, and WHO II) risk scores with the risk chart for the Netherlands. For the Globorisk, WHO II, and SCORE II risk scores, we also computed the risk scores using risk charts specified for the migrant home country. Risk categorization was first done according to the specification of the risk algorithm and then simplified to low (green), moderate (yellow and orange), and high risk (red). Results: we observed differences in risk categorization for different risk algorithms ranging from 0% (Globorisk) to 13% (Framingham) for the high-risk category, as well as differences in the country-of-residence- and country-of-birth-specific scores. Agreement between different scores ranged from none to moderate. We observed a moderate agreement between the Netherlands-specific SCORE II and the country-of-birth SCORE II for the Turkish and a nonagreement for the Dutch Moroccan population. Conclusion: disparities exist in the use of the country-of-residence-specific, as compared to the country-of-birth, risk algorithms among ethnic minorities living in the Netherlands. Hence, there is a need for further validation of country-of-residence- and country-of-birth-adjusted scores to ascertain appropriateness and reliability.
Original languageEnglish
Article number5148
JournalInternational journal of environmental research and public health
Volume20
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2023

Keywords

  • cardiovascular risk scores
  • country-of-birth-specific scores
  • country-of-residence-specific scores
  • migrant populations

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