ABSTRACT AIMS: To compare anthropometric measurements and to define their behavioural associations in migrant and British-born South Asians (who have increased cardiovascular risk) or

Italians (who have reduced cardiovascular risk), and in the general population of British women living in the west of Scotland. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey of women aged 20–42 y,

selected mainly from birth registration data, which included 63 migrant South Asians, 56 British-born South Asians, 39 migrant Italians, 51 British-born Italians, and 50 subjects

representative of the general population of women, all resident in the west of Scotland. MEASUREMENTS: Height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and waist and hip circumferences. RESULTS: With

groups and the general population. Neither weight nor BMI were different between ethnic groups. Waist and hip circumferences were not different between migrant and British-born ethnic

minority groups. Migrant South Asians (86.8 cm) had significantly (_P_<0.05) larger waist circumference than the general population (78.6 cm). British-born Italian women (103.0 cm) had

larger hip circumference than the general population of women (96.4 cm), while other groups had similar hip circumferences. Additional adjustments for physical activity, smoking, alcohol

consumption and parity reduced the differences in anthropometric measurements: only waist-to-hip ratio of migrant South Asians remained significantly (_P_<0.01) higher than that of the

general population women. CONCLUSIONS: The adverse anthropometric indicators of cardiovascular risk in migrant South Asian women are substantially explained by their lifestyle factors and

parity. British-born South Asian women are more similar to the general population women. Anthropometric differences between migrant or British-born Italians and the general population women

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from the study ‘Dietary Change in South Asian and Italian women in the west of Scotland’, part of ‘The Nation's Diet’ Research Programme funded by the Economic and Social Research

Council. We acknowledge with thanks all our respondents, and our team of interviewers and dietitians. The Department of Human Nutrition was supported by the Rank Prize Funds and Rank

Foundation. AUTHOR INFORMATION Author notes * TS Han Present address: Wolfson College, Cambridge University, Cambridge, CB3 9BB, UK AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * University of Glasgow

Department of Human Nutrition, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Glasgow, UK MEJ Lean & TS Han * MRC Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, Glasgow, UK H Bush, AS Anderson, H Bradby & R

Williams Authors * MEJ Lean View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * TS Han View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar * H Bush View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * AS Anderson View author publications You can also search for this

author inPubMed Google Scholar * H Bradby View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * R Williams View author publications You can also search for

this author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Lean, M., Han, T., Bush, H. _et al._ Ethnic differences in

anthropometric and lifestyle measures related to coronary heart disease risk between South Asian, Italian and general-population British women living in the west of Scotland. _Int J Obes_

25, 1800–1805 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0801823 Download citation * Received: 03 April 2001 * Accepted: 16 April 2001 * Published: 11 December 2001 * Issue Date: 01 December

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is not currently available for this article. Copy to clipboard Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative KEYWORDS * body fat distribution * cardiovascular risk *

ethnicity * migration