Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Letter
  • Published:

The ethnicity of Hakka is associated with a higher risk of hypertension than Fukienese in Taiwanese type 2 diabetic patients

Journal of Human Hypertension volume 22, pages 370–372 (2008)Cite this article

This study investigated whether the ethnicity of Hakka with type 2 diabetes mellitus could have a higher risk of hypertension than their Fukienese counterparts in Taiwan. The data of 78 396 (70 122 Fukienese and 8274 Hakka) adult patients obtained from telephone interview were analysed. Results showed that the Hakka had a significantly higher prevalence of hypertension (56.8 vs 52.9%, P <0.001) with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.19 (1.11–1.27).

The population of Taiwan is composed of heterogeneous ethnicities speaking different languages or dialects. About 2% of the population are indigenous people and the majority of the remaining population are migrants or descendents of migrants from Mainland China. Among them, 15% are of the Hakka ethnicity from the Canton province, 70% are Fukienese from the Fukien province of China and the other 13% are mainlanders from other provinces. Most of the ancestors of the Hakka and Fukienese migrated to Taiwan during the seventeenth century and the mainlanders of the other provinces came to Taiwan after the Second World War together with the retreat of the Nationalist Government.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

References

  1. Shaw CK, Chen LL, Lee A, Lee TD . Distribution of HLA gene and haplotype frequencies in Taiwan: a comparative study among Min-nan, Hakka, Aborigines and Mainland Chinese. Tissue Antigens 1999; 53: 51–64.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Chien CC, Lin CK, Jiang ML, Wang CC, Lin JS . Does Hakka ethnic group have higher incidence of thalassemia traits in Taiwanese population? Zhonghua Yi Xue Za Zhi (Taipei) 1992; 50: 288–292.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Tseng CH . Mortality and causes of death in a national sample of diabetic patients in Taiwan. Diabetes Care 2004; 27: 1605–1609.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Tseng CH . Prevalence of lower-extremity amputation among patients with diabetes mellitus: is height a factor? CMAJ 2006; 174: 319–323.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Tseng CH, Tseng CP, Chong CK, Huang TP, Song YM, Chou CW et al. Increasing incidence of diagnosed type 2 diabetes in Taiwan: analysis of data from a national cohort. Diabetologia 2006; 49: 1755–1760.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Chen KT, Chen CJ, Gregg EW, Engelgau MM, Narayan KM . Prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Taiwan: ethnic variation and risk factors. Diabetes Res Clin Pract 2001; 51: 59–66.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Tsai SL . Social change and status attainment in Taiwan: comparisons of ethnic groups. Int Persp Edu Soc 1992; 2: 225–256.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Pan WH, Yeh WT, Chang HY, Hwu CM, Ho LT . Prevalence and awareness of diabetes and mean fasting glucose by age, sex, and region: results from the Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan, 1993–1996. Diabet Med 2003; 20: 182–185.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Nwankwo MU, Bunker CH, Ukoli FA, Omene JA, Freeman DT, Vergis EN et al Blood pressure and other cardiovascular disease risk factors in black adults with sickle cell trait or glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency. Genet Epidemiol 1990; 7: 211–218.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Scott MD, Zuo L, Lubin BH, Chiu DT . NADPH, not glutathione, status modulates oxidant sensitivity in normal and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase-deficient erythrocytes. Blood 1991; 77: 2059–2064.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Abdilla N, Tormo MC, Fabia MJ, Chaves FJ, Saez G, Redon J . Impact of the components of metabolic syndrome on oxidative stress and enzymatic antioxidant activity in essential hypertension. J Hum Hypertens 2007; 21: 68–75.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Lim HS, Patel JV, Lip GY . Reactive oxygen species production by circulating monocytes: insights from pathophysiology to clinical hypertension. J Hum Hypertens 2006; 20: 307–309.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I thank the following institutes for their continuous support on the epidemiological studies of diabetes mellitus and arsenic-related health hazards: the Department of Health (DOH89-TD-1035), the National Taiwan University Hospital Yun-Lin Branch (NTUHYL96.G001) and the National Science Council (NSC-86-2314-B-002-326, NSC-87-2314-B-002-245, NSC88-2621-B-002-030, NSC89-2320-B002-125, NSC-90-2320-B-002-197, NSC-92-2320-B-002-156, NSC-93-2320-B-002-071, NSC-94-2314-B-002-142, NSC-95-2314-B-002-311 and NSC-96-2314-B-002-061-MY2), Taiwan.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan

    C-H Tseng

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    C-H Tseng

  3. Department of Medical Research and Development, National Taiwan University Hospital Yun-Lin Branch, Yun-Lin, Taiwan

    C-H Tseng

Authors
  1. C-H Tseng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to C-H Tseng.

Additional information

Conflict of interest

None.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tseng, CH. The ethnicity of Hakka is associated with a higher risk of hypertension than Fukienese in Taiwanese type 2 diabetic patients. J Hum Hypertens 22, 370–372 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2008.7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jhh.2008.7

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links