This paper aims to explore the burgeoning burden of cardiovascular and metabolic disease (CMD) risk factors among South Asian labor migrants to the Middle East. We conducted a qualitative synthesis of literature using PubMed/Medline and grey literature searches, supplemented by a policy review of policies from the South Asian countries. We found a high burden of cardio-metabolic risk factors among the migrants as well as among the populations in the home and the host countries. For example, two studies reported the prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) ranging between 9 and 17% among South Asian migrants. Overweight and obesity were highly prevalent amongst South Asian male migrants; prevalence ranged from 30 to 66% (overweight) and 17–80% (obesity) respectively. The home country population had a significant CMD risk factor burden. Nearly 14 to 40% have three or more risk factors: such as hypertension (17 to 37%), diabetes (3 to 7%), overweight (18 to 41%), and obesity (2 to 15%). The host country also exhibited similar burden of risk factors: hypertension (13 to 38%), diabetes (8 to 17%), overweight (33 to 77%) and obesity (35 to 41%). Only Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have some provisions related to screening of CMDs before labor migration. Further, analysis of policy papers showed that none of the reviewed documents had requirements for screening of any specific CMDs, but chronic diseases were used generically, failing to specify specific screening target. Given the high burden of risk factors, migrants’ health should become an urgent priority. The lack of specific focus on screening during different stages of labor migration should receive attention. The International Labour Organization and the International Office for Migration, through their country coordination teams should engage local stakeholders to create policies and plans to address this concern. Similarly, there is a need for the host country to become an equal partner in these efforts, as migrant’s better cardiometabolic health is in the benefit of both host and home countries.

中文翻译：

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南亚中东劳动力移民中心脏代谢疾病的危险因素：范围回顾和政策分析

本文旨在探讨南亚劳动力向中东移民中新兴的心血管和代谢疾病（CMD）危险因素的新兴负担。我们使用PubMed / Medline和灰色文献搜索对文献进行了定性综合，并辅以对南亚国家/地区政策的政策审查。我们发现移民中以及本国和东道国人口中心脏代谢危险因素的负担很大。例如，两项研究报告说，南亚移民中糖尿病的患病率在9％至17％之间。超重和肥胖在南亚男性移民中非常普遍。患病率分别为30％至66％（超重）和17-80％（肥胖）。母国人口有严重的CMD危险因素负担。将近14％到40％的人具有三个或更多的危险因素：例如高血压（17％到37％），糖尿病（3％到7％），超重（18％到41％）和肥胖（2％到15％）。东道国也表现出类似的危险因素负担：高血压（13％至38％），糖尿病（8％至17％），超重（33％至77％）和肥胖症（35％至41％）。只有尼泊尔，孟加拉国和斯里兰卡有一些有关在劳务移民之前对CMD进行筛查的规定。此外，对政策文件的分析表明，所审查的文件均没有筛查任何特定CMD的要求，但一般使用慢性疾病，但未指定特定的筛查目标。鉴于高风险因素的负担，移徙者的健康应成为当务之急。在劳务移民的不同阶段缺乏对筛查的特别关注应引起注意。国际劳工组织和国际移民局应通过其国家协调小组与当地利益相关者合作，制定解决这一问题的政策和计划。同样，东道国有必要在这些努力中成为平等的伙伴，因为移民改善的心脏代谢健康既有利于东道国，也有利于本国。