Indo-Caribbean population has lower vital capacities than Afro-Caribbean population in Trinidad and Tobago

ABSTRACT

Objective: Low forced vital capacity (FVC) is a good predictor of mortality and morbidity including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic kidney disease in the general population. Objective of the current post-hoc analysis was to compare the FVCs among the major ethnic groups of Trinidad and Tobago. Design and Methodology: The Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease in Trinidad and Tobago (BOLD-TT) study was conducted to measure the COPD prevalence and its risk factors in the local population of 40 years and older by using questionnaires and quality assured spirometry. The participants were selected using two-stage stratified, cluster sampling to represent the national population in terms of gender, age and ethnic distributions. To avoid the influence of contentious international spirometry predictive values, FVC was used as a continuous variable after adjusting for age, gender, height and height square. Results: Among the 1,104 participants, 42% were Indo- Caribbeans, and 36% were Afro-Caribbeans. Indo- Caribbeans had a similar prevalence of abnormal waist circumference (57.0% vs. 58.7%; p=0.751), a lower prevalence of obesity (30.0% vs. 41.8%; p=0.008), but a higher prevalence of abnormal waist-hip ratio (74.1% vs. 57.5%; p<0.001) and diabetes (21% vs. 10%; p<0.001) than the Afro- Caribbeans. Multiple regression analysis indicated that FVC was independently associated with ethnicity and revealed lower volumes in Indo- Caribbean participants than Afro-Caribbeans (-180ml; 95%CI-90ml,-269ml; p<0.001). Conclusions: The Indo-Caribbean population has a lower FVC than the Afro-Caribbean population which was independent of age, gender, and height. Healthrelated consequences of low FVC among local ethnic groups warrant further research using longitudinal studies.