1662-P: Comparison of Anthropometric and Metabolic Parameters among Africans Living in America

Differences in anthropometric and metabolic parameters among people of African, European, South Asian, and other origins are well described in the literature. In addition, we and others have reported that many of these parameters are different when comparing African Americans with Africans who recently moved to the U.S. In contrast, reports comparing African populations of various ethnicities and geographic areas are still lacking. The black sub-Saharan populations of Africa show variation in culture, cuisine, language, ethnicity and genetics. The Africans-in-America cohort was established to evaluate the cardiometabolic status of Africans living in the United States who self-identify as healthy. Our goal was to compare anthropometric and metabolic parameters in 419 African-born blacks currently living in Washington, DC. The African regions of origin were West 53% (222/419), Central 21% (89/419), and East 26% (108/419). The Table below shows key findings among the three groups. The prevalence of previously undiagnosed diabetes and prediabetes in the entire cohort was 6.2% and 31.5% respectively. Compared with West and Central Africans, East Africans had higher % body fat, plasma TG, MCV and eGFR but lower systolic BP, vitamin B12, frequency of variant hemoglobin and serum albumin. Further studies will be needed to understand the underlying reasons for these findings, their meaning and long-term consequences.