Table 1. Characteristics of the two ethnic groups.
| Europeans | South Asians | p | |
| N | 144 | 143 | |
| Male gender, n (%) | 95 (66) | 96 (67) | 0.8 |
| Age, y | 62.6±6.4 | 62.1±6.2 | 0.6 |
| Weight, kg | 80.4±17.3 | 73.8±13.1 | <0.001 |
| Height, cm | 170±10 | 166±10 | <0.001 |
| BMI, kg/m2 | 27.8±5.2 | 26.9±4.4 | 0.2 |
| Waist hip ratio | 0.93±0.10 | 0.97±0.10 | 0.001 |
| Systolic BP, mmHg | 142±18 | 145±17 | 0.2 |
| Diastolic BP, mmHg | 82±10 | 82±8 | 0.5 |
| Heart rate, mmHg | 62±10 | 65±11 | 0.01 |
| Pulse wave velocity, m/s | 9.2 (8.0, 10.3) | 9.3 (8.3, 10.6) | 0.2 |
| Fasting glucose, mmol/l | 5.0 (4.6, 5.4) | 5.0 (4.7, 5.9) | 0.2 |
| HbA1c, % | 5.7 (5.4, 5.9) | 6.0 (5.7, 7.0) | <0.001 |
| Fasting insulin, pmol/l | 5.4 (3.7, 9.2) | 7.6 (4.9, 12.6) | 0.004 |
| HOMA-IR | 1.2 (0.8, 2.2) | 1.8 (1.0, 3.0) | 0.004 |
| Diabetes, n (%) | 11 (8) | 37 (26) | <0.001 |
| Total cholesterol, mmol/l | 5.5±1.1 | 5.2±1.1 | 0.01 |
| HDL cholesterol, mmol/l | 1.4 (1.1, 1.6) | 1.3 (1.1, 1.5) | 0.04 |
| Fasting triglycerides, mmol/l | 1.3 (1.0, 2.5) | 1.5 (1.0, 2.0) | 0.2 |
| Current smoker, n (%) | 75 (52) | 4 (3) | <0.001 |
| Hypertensive, n (%) | 93 (65) | 98 (69) | 0.5 |
| Lipid lowering therapy, n (%) | 37 (26) | 39 (27) | 0.8 |
Values are % (n), mean ± SD, or median (25th, 75th percentile) for skewed data; p values were calculated using the Student’s t-test or the Mann-Whitney U-test for continuous variables and the Chi-squared test for categorical variables. Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; BP, blood pressure; HbA1c, glycosylated haemoglobin; HDL, high density lipoprotein, HOMA-IR, homeostasis model of the assessment of insulin resistance; WHR, waist hip ratio.