New immigrants in Canada face higher risk of diabetes than long-term citizens

Canada, 22nd April: According to a latest study published in Canadian Medical Association Journal, new immigrants in Canada are at an 
increased risk of developing diabetes as compared to those residing for long time in Ontario, Canada.

Researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) found that immigrants hailing from South Asia were at nearly double the risk of having diabetes as compared with the general residents of Ontario.

The study found that out of the total South Asian community members that have taken Canada immigration in the last two decades, nearly 12 percent were found to be having diabetes. The figure of South Asian immigrants (till the year 2005) in Ontario diagnosing positive for diabetes was a whopping 28,000.

The study involving nearly a million immigrants to Ontario between the year 1985 and 2000 found that a total of 100,000 immigrants who came to Canada between 1985 and 2000 were diagnosed as diabetics by the year 2005. 

The rate of men and women immigrants was different. While immigrant women in Ontario had about 24 percent higher rate of diabetes, the rate of diabetes in immigrant men was nearly 10 percent higher as compared to their Ontarian counterparts, the study maintained.

Immigrants hailing from South Asia were nearly three to four times more likely to have diabetes as compared to immigrants hailing from Western European nations. Among several risk factors responsible for higher rate of diabetes in immigrants stated by the study include lower standards of living which had a direct relation with increasing risk of diabetes.

Diabetes is the most rapidly growing disease, especially in the developing countries of the world. In the coming next 25 years, it is being predicted that regions including India, Africa and Middle East will witness highest increases in the number of diabetics. Incidentally, these nations happen to be the highest providers of immigrants to Canada annually.

The study has concluded that since socio-economic factors and lifestyle factors play a significant role in development of diabetes, hence, effective programs for diabetes prevention together with screening guidelines are needed.