Cardiovascular risk factors of migrants in Port Moresby from the highlandsand island villages, Papua New Guinea

This study examined cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, i.e., obesit y, blood pressures, and serum lipoproteins and apoproteins, in relation to sociocultural characteristics in two rural-urban migrant populations (n = 1 73 adult males and females) in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guine a. Tari migrants from the highlands and Balopa migrants from the islands di ffer genetically. More importantly, the lifestyle of the latter is more Wes ternized than that of the former in both Port Moresby and their homelands. The results demonstrate that CVD risk factors vary markedly among the origi n/sex groups and that the length of stay in Port Moresby on CVD risk factor s was significant only in Balopa males, most of whom had professional or sk illed full-time jobs and were considered to have more stress. This study id entified different CVD risk factors in the migrant groups: obesity or fatne ss for the Balopa migrants, and serum lipoproteins and apoproteins, particu larly lipoprotein(a), for the Tari migrants. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.