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C. Cecily Kelleher, MD, MPH, John Lynch, PhD, MEd, MPH, Sam Harper, MPH, Joseph B. Tay, MB, BCh, BAO and Geraldine Nolan, MSc, Dip Dietetics

C. Cecily Kelleher and Geraldine Nolan are with the National Nutrition Surveillance Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine, University College Dublin, Republic of Ireland. At the time of the study, Joseph Tay was with the Department of Health Promotion, National University of Ireland, Galway. John Lynch and Sam Harper are with the Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to C. Cecily Kelleher, MD, MPH, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health Medicine, Earlsfort Terr, University College Dublin, Dublin 2, Republic of Ireland (e-mail: cecily.kelleher{at}ucd.ie).

Objectives. We performed a historical review of cardiovascular risk profiles of Irish immigrants to the United States, 1850–1970, in regard to lifestyle, socio-economic circumstances, and social capital.

Methods. We analyzed US Census data from 1850–1970, area-based social and epidemiological data from Boston, data from Ireland’s National Nutrition Surveillance Centre, and literature on Irish migration.

Results. The Irish were consistently at increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, a risk that related initially to material deprivation, across the life course of at least 2 generations.

Conclusions. The principal difference between the Irish and other disadvantaged immigrant groups, such as the Italians, was dietary habits influenced by experiences during the Irish famine. Although there was a psychosocial component to the disadvantage and discrimination they experienced as an ethnic group, the Irish also exhibited strong community networks and support structures that might have been expected to counteract discrimination’s negative effects. However, the Irish’s high levels of social capital were not protective for cardiovascular disease.

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