Westernization of lifestyle markedly increases carotid intima-media wall thickness (IMT) in Japanese people

Influence of Westernization of Lifestyle on the Progression of IMT in Japanese

“…Previous study showed that serum TC level was higher among Japanese-Americans than that of US subjects (11,15). Because serum lipids have increased quite rapidly in Japanese, and gradually decreased in JapaneseAmericans, no significant differences were observed in serum TC, TG HDL-C, and LDL-C levels between the two groups in 1998, although over the past twenty years Japanese-Americans have displayed significantly higher levels of serum TC, TG and LDL-C levels than native Japanese (11) (Fig.…”

“…2). The sum of TC, TG, LDL-C but not HDL-C levels in six examinations during the period from 1981 to 1998 was significantly higher in Japanese-Americans than in native Japanese (11). Previously observed differences have diminished recently due to a rapid increase in serum TC (4.97 ± 0.04 in 1981 vs 5.58 ± 0.09 in 1992, (mean ± SE) p < 0.0001), TG (1.20 ± 0.03 in 1995 vs 1.56 ± 0.05 in 1998, ns), HDL-C (1.18 ± 0.01 in 1981 vs 1.48 ± 0.03 in 1998, p < 0.0001), and LDL-C (3.26 ± 0.04 in 1981 vs 3.62 ± 0.04 in 1992, p < 0.01) levels in native Japanese, and a gradual decrease in Japanese-Americans (TC: (Fig.…”

“…When JapaneseAmericans were exposed to these risk factors for longer durations, the average IMT of Japanese-Americans increased significantly to that of native Japanese. Westernization of lifestyle has advanced the degree of atherosclerosis in middle aged Japanese-Americans by as much as 20 years in comparison to Japanese (11).…”

“…An age related regression curve of IMT between the two groups indicated that the Japanese-Americans reached an IMT of 1.1 mm at age 50, whereas native Japanese reach this value at age 70. Thus, westernization of lifestyle has caused the progression of pre-clinical atherosclerosis twenty-years earlier in Japanese subjects (11) (Fig. 3).…”

Polymorphisms in Four Genes Related to Triglyceride and HDL-cholesterol Levels in the General Japanese Population in 2000

“…In contrast to the sharp decline in both serum cholesterol levels and mortality from CAD in the United States and Western Europe, remarkable increases in serum cholesterol levels as well as CAD mortality have been anticipated in the Asian-Pacific area due to industrialization and the modernization of lifestyle (2). The importance of lifestyle is also proved by the fact that Japanese who migrated to Hawaii and California, for example, showed higher levels of serum cholesterol and a higher incidence of CAD than people in Japan (3).…”