Ethnic minority groups are disproportionately affected by cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The reasons for the high prevalence of CVD in ethnic minority groups are not fully understood. Recently, the importance of early-life developmental factors and their impact on CVDs in adulthood is increasingly being recognised, but little is known about this among ethnic minority groups. Therefore, the current paper aimed to fill this knowledge gap by reviewing the available literature to assess the influence of early-life conditions on CVDs and its risk factors in ethnic minority populations residing in Western countries. A systematic search was performed in PubMed and EMBASE between 1989 and 2014. In total, 1418 studies were identified of which 19 met the inclusion criteria. Six studies investigated the relationship between early-life anthropometrics and CVD risk factors of which all except one found significant associations between the assessed anthropometric measures and CVD risk factors. Seven studies evaluated the influence of childhood socio-economic status (SES) on CVD and risk factors of which five found significant associations between childhood SES measures and CVD risk factors. Five studies investigated the relationship between other early-life conditions including early-life nutrition, physical development, and childhood psychosocial conditions, and CVD risk factors. Four of these studies found significant associations between the assessed childhood conditions and CVD risk factors. This review reinforces the importance of early-life conditions on adult CVD in ethnic minority groups. Improvement of early-life conditions among ethnic minority groups may contribute to reducing CVD risk in these populations.
Keywords: Cardiovascular disease; Early-life condition; Ethnic health; Ethnic minorities.