# Cardiovascular Disease Burden among African Migrants

## TL;DR

This paper reviews the high cardiovascular disease burden among African migrants and highlights factors influencing it, while pointing out gaps in current research.

## Contribution

The paper emphasizes the need for standardized, longitudinal studies across diverse African migrant populations to better understand and address cardiovascular disease disparities.

## Key findings

- Cardiovascular disease burden varies among African migrants based on migration factors, host country, and demographics.
- Pre- and post-migration factors, genetics, and epigenetics contribute to the high CVD burden in this population.
- Tailored prevention and treatment strategies are needed due to observed variations in CVD risk factors.

## Abstract

To provide an overview of the current available evidence on the burden of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) among African migrants, including its risk factors, underlying mechanisms, and prevention and treatment efforts, while highlighting critical gaps in knowledge.

The CVD burden is high among most African migrant populations. Underlying mechanisms for the high CVD burden include various pre- and post-migration factors, genetics, and epigenetics. Studies increasingly show substantial variation in CVD burden among African migrants across factors such as country of origin, host country, reason for migration, duration of stay, sex, and age. This variation is also observed among CVD risk factors and requires tailored prevention and treatment efforts.

To fill critical gaps in knowledge, future studies need to recruit among diverse African migrant populations, in various high-income countries, using standardized methodologies with a focus on longitudinal designs, and integrating lifestyle, sociocultural, environmental, and genetic factors.