South Africa, burdened with the emerging chronic diseases, is home to one of the largest migrant Indian population, however, little data exists on the risk factors for non-communicable diseases in this population. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of yet undiagnosed selected intermediate risk factors for non-communicable diseases among the Indian population in KwaZulu-Natal. We randomly selected 250 apparently healthy Indians, aged 35-55 years, living in KwaDukuza to participate in this study. Clinical and anthropometric measurements were taken under prescribed clinical conditions using Asian cut-off points. Pearson correlations was used to detect associations between anthropometric and clinical risk markers. A large percentage of participants' systolic blood pressure fell within the normal range. Diastolic blood pressure was >85 mmHg for 61 % of the participants and triglyceride levels were >1.69 mmol/L for 89 % of the participants'; 94 % of the women and 87 % of the men were classified as centrally obese. Raised fasting blood glucose was seen in 39 % of participants'. Waist circumference and body mass index showed statistically significant associations with all clinical risk markers except for diastolic blood pressure. Our findings suggest that the use of ethno specific strategies in the management of the disease profile of South African Indians, will enable the South African health system to respond more positively towards the current trend of increased metabolic and physiological risk factors in this community. Moreover, key modifiable behaviours such as increased physical activity and weight reduction may improve most of these metabolic abnormalities.
Keywords: Asian cut-offs; Non-communicable diseases; Risk factors; South African Indians.