For the last couple decades, heart researchers have been following hundreds of older Chinese American immigrants in Los Angeles and Chicago as part of a study looking at the connection between immigration and cardiovascular disease. As the years have ticked by, some participants, whose average age was 62 at the start of the study, have fallen ill from heart disease, others have died. And trends have emerged.
The longer immigrants lived in the U.S., their cardiovascular risks went up.
And where they lived in the U.S. also appeared to be a factor.
Immigrants who settled in Los Angeles had a higher death rate from heart disease than the cohort in Chicago. “That’s a big surprise,” said the study’s lead author Dr. Xinjiang Cai, a cardiologist at UCLA.
Cai had surmised Angelenos would be more physically active — an important aspect of heart health: “L.A. has beautiful weather compared to Chicago.
” But the immigrants in L.A. reported exercising less than the Chicagoans.
Aside from working out more, those in the Windy City also had higher levels of educational attainment, which is associated with better socioeconomic and health outcomes. Cai says more investigation is needed to explain the geographic disparities found in the study, published this month by the Journal American Heart Association. But the findings about physical activity have him doubling down on his mantra: Work out at least 30 minutes, five times a week.
And if you can’t quite get there? “Any exercis.