• Am J Prev Med · Mar 2020

    Longitudinal Trends and Risk Factors for Obesity Among Immigrants in Massachusetts.

    • Wudeneh M Mulugeta.
    • Department of Medicine, Cambridge Health Alliance, Revere, Massachusetts. Electronic address: wudmul@gmail.com.
    • Am J Prev Med. 2020 Mar 1; 58 (3): 378-385.

    IntroductionLittle is known about the longitudinal trends and factors associated with obesity and overweight among U.S. immigrants and ethnic minorities.MethodsAt a large safety net health system in Massachusetts, 7,973 adults were followed retrospectively for 42.0 months on average from 2011 to 2016. Multivariate analyses were performed to identify factors associated with obesity (BMI ≥30 kg/m2) and overweight (BMI ≥25 kg/m2). Data were collected and analyzed in 2018-2019.ResultsObesity prevalence and trends were highest among Mexican/Central American men (32.6% in 2011 to 42.5% in 2016, p=0.03) and Haitian/black Caribbean women (37.5% to 51.5%, p<0.01). Mexican/Central American men had 564% (OR=5.64, 95% CI=4.02, 7.91) and women had 432% (OR=4.32, 95% CI=2.99, 6.23) higher odds of obesity compared with white, non-Hispanic men and women, respectively. Baseline age, weight, and duration of follow-up were associated with obesity among men (OR=1.02, 95% CI=1.02, 1.03; OR=1.16, 95% CI=1.15, 1.17; and OR=1.17, 95% CI=1.06, 1.30, respectively) and women (OR=1.01, 95% CI=1.01, 1.02; OR=1.18, 95% CI=1.17, 1.19; and OR=1.44, 95% CI=1.29, 1.61, respectively). East/Southeast Asians had the lowest obesity burdens. Most weight gains (63% among men and 75% among women) took place within 3 years.ConclusionsLongitudinal obesity and overweight trends increased among all immigrants and ethnic minorities, primarily within the first 3 years, but significant variations existed. Mexican/Central American men and Haitian/black Caribbean women were disproportionately affected, approaching or exceeding U.S. rates. Targeted early prevention and treatment strategies are needed to reduce health disparities in obesity and unhealthy weight gain among immigrants.Copyright © 2019 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…