Search

Definition of Chinese. For the purposes of this study, Chinese refers to residents of the UK who either on the basis of name (face-to-face contact not made), or self-definition and appearance (contact made) had origins in China and included those born in the UK and others migrating to the UK via a third country (for example Vietnam, Singapore, Hong Kong etc). This is a pragmatic definition. There is a paucity of research on health in the UK Chinese community partly due to the difficulties of identifying and accessing study populations. For a survey of cardiovascular disease we aimed to identify and recruit all Chinese adults aged 25–64 y living in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. One thousand, eight hundred and sixty-five potential subjects were identified using a variety of methods. Of the 1702 potential subjects identified from a name analysis of the 1991 FHSA register (FHSA group), 638 students in halls of residence were excluded and the remaining 1064 were invited to participate. Non-respondents were followed up. Of the 1064, 658 (65.5%) addresses were no longer valid, 21 (2%) were reclassified as non-Chinese and no contact was made with 18 individuals (1.6%). A further 163 subjects (non-FHSA group) came forward in response to publicity, giving a total of 530 Chinese actually identified in Newcastle. Three hundred and eighty subjects took part in the study. Compared to the 1991 Census, the recruitment procedure underestimated the total population size, particularly for men and younger ages. In the FHSA group, men were significantly more likely to be current drinkers, and women were more likely to smoke and have a lower educational attainment that the non-FHSA group. There were no other important differences in the distribution of CHD risk markers in the two groups. Our experience indicates that the FHSA register is suitable for identifying Chinese but should be used alongside other complementary methods to augment samples for ethnicity and health research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ethnic variations in stroke require more European studies, especially as differences are reportedly large., Methods: We created a retrospective cohort study of 4.65 million people in Scotland linking ethnicity from the census and stroke incidence and mortality from NHS databases. Rate ratios using direct age standardization and risk ratios were calculated, the latter to model the influence of educational qualification in a Poisson regression model., Results: Age-adjusted rate ratios varied little, compared to the White Scottish group (reference value 100) and the 95% CIs usually included 100, e.g. higher in Pakistani men (120.5, 95% CI 95.2-145.8) and in African men (137.9, 95% CI 91.5-184.4) but not in Pakistani or African women. Stroke rates were low in the Other White British (78.3, 95% CI 75.4-81.2 in men and 84.9, 95% CI 82.0-87.8 in women), Other White (89.8, 95% CI 81.5-98.1 in men and 88.8, 95% CI 80.9-96.7 in women) and Chinese men (70.3, 95% CI 45.7-94.8). Adjusting for highest educational qualification attenuated some and augmented other risk ratios, e.g. in Other White British men, the risk ratio changed from 71.4 to 80.2 (95% CI 74.2-86.6) and in African men from 124.2 to 138.8 (95% CI 107.7-178.8)., Conclusions: Ethnic variations deserve further study, including in White European origin subgroups and the Chinese. Extremely high rates in South Asian and African origin were not corroborated in Scotland. Linkage methods are practical in Europe.