The Relationship Between The Age Of First Acute Coronary Syndrome Episode And İnternal Migration

BACKGROUND
It has been shown that migration has an increasing effect on the risk of cardiovascular events. However, these studies are mostly related to international migration. There are very few studies on the relationship between internal migration and cardiovascular disease. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effect of internal migration on the age of the first acute coronary syndrome (ACS) episode.


METHODS
The study was designed as a cross-sectional, observational study that enrolled 1261 consecutive patients diagnosed with the first episode of ACS between 2014 and 2020. Patients born and living in Antalya, were included in the non-immigrated group, and those born in another city in Turkey and settled to live in Antalya were included in the immigrated group. The effect of internal migration and other risk factors on the age of the first ACS was calculated by regression analysis.


RESULTS
Immigrants were younger than non-immigrants at the time of ACS (55.4±10.7 years vs. 60.0±13.36 years, p<0.001). Linear regression analysis showed that migration is an independent risk factor for ACS at an earlier age (-2.07, p<0.001). The socioeconomic status of the migrant group was not lower than the non-immigrant group.


CONCLUSIONS
Internal migration may be a risk factor associated with ACS at an earlier age when compared to non-immigrants. This finding needs to be tested in multicenter epidemiological studies.