scholarly journals Ethnic Differences in Risk Factors for Obesity among Adults in California, the United States

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Wang ◽  
Jodi Southerland ◽  
Kesheng Wang ◽  
Beth A. Bailey ◽  
Arsham Alamian ◽  
...  

Little attention has been given to differences in obesity risk factors by racial/ethnic groups. Using data from the 2011-2012 California Health Interview Survey, we examined differences in risk factors for obesity among Whites, Latinos, Asians, and African Americans among 42,935 adults (24.8% obese). Estimates were weighted to ensure an unbiased representation of the Californian population. Multiple logistic and linear regression analyses were used to examine the differences in risk factors for obesity. Large ethnic disparities were found in obesity prevalence: Whites (22.0%), Latinos (33.6%), African Americans (36.1%), and Asians (9.8%). Differences in risk factors for obesity were also observed: Whites (gender, age, physical activity, smoking, arthritis, and diabetes medicine intake), Latinos (age, arthritis, and diabetes medicine intake), Asians (age, binge drinking, arthritis, and diabetes medicine intake), and African Americans (gender, physical activity, smoking, binge drinking, and diabetes medicine intake). Females were more likely to be obese among African Americans (odds ratio (OR) = 1.43, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.05–1.94), but less likely among Whites (OR = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.74–0.87). Race/ethnicity should be considered in developing obesity prevention strategies.

Author(s):  
Jay J. Xu ◽  
Jarvis T. Chen ◽  
Thomas R. Belin ◽  
Ronald S. Brookmeyer ◽  
Marc A. Suchard ◽  
...  

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic in the United States has disproportionately impacted communities of color across the country. Focusing on COVID-19-attributable mortality, we expand upon a national comparative analysis of years of potential life lost (YPLL) attributable to COVID-19 by race/ethnicity (Bassett et al., 2020), estimating percentages of total YPLL for non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic Blacks, Hispanics, non-Hispanic Asians, and non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Natives, contrasting them with their respective percent population shares, as well as age-adjusted YPLL rate ratios—anchoring comparisons to non-Hispanic Whites—in each of 45 states and the District of Columbia using data from the National Center for Health Statistics as of 30 December 2020. Using a novel Monte Carlo simulation procedure to perform estimation, our results reveal substantial racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19-attributable YPLL across states, with a prevailing pattern of non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics experiencing disproportionately high and non-Hispanic Whites experiencing disproportionately low COVID-19-attributable YPLL. Furthermore, estimated disparities are generally more pronounced when measuring mortality in terms of YPLL compared to death counts, reflecting the greater intensity of the disparities at younger ages. We also find substantial state-to-state variability in the magnitudes of the estimated racial/ethnic disparities, suggesting that they are driven in large part by social determinants of health whose degree of association with race/ethnicity varies by state.


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarabjeet S Suri ◽  
Vibhu Parcha ◽  
Rajat Kalra ◽  
Garima Arora ◽  
Pankaj Arora

Background: The growing epidemic of obesity in the United States (US) is associated with cardiovascular (CV) morbidity and mortality. We evaluated the impact of the increasing obesity prevalence on the CV health of young American adults. Methods: The age-adjusted weighted prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia was estimated from the 2008-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in American adults aged 18-44 years, stratified by the presence of obesity. The trends were evaluated using a piecewise linear regression approach. The odds for CV risk factors were estimated using multivariable-adjusted logistic regression models. Results: Among 14,919 young adults, the prevalence of obesity was 33.9% (95% CI: 32.6-35.3%). Obese young adults were more likely to be non-Hispanic Blacks and in lower socioeconomic and educational attainment strata (p<0.05 for all). Obese young adults had a greater risk of having hypertension (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 3.0 [95% CI: 2.7-3.4]), diabetes (aOR: 4.3 [95% CI: 3.3-5.6]), and hyperlipidemia (aOR: 1.47 [95% CI: 1.3-1.7]). Among obese, hypertension increased from 36.5% (33.9-39.1%) in 2007-2010 to 39.4% (35.6-43.1%) in 2015-2018 (p= 0.07) and diabetes increased from 4.7% (3.6-5.8%) in 2007-2010 to 7.1% (5.3-9.0%) in 2015-2018 (p=0.11). A modest increase in diabetes was seen in non-obese individuals ( Table ). Hypercholesterolemia prevalence remained unchanged from 12.6% (95% CI: 10.6-14.7%) 2007-2010 to 10.9% (95% CI: 9.0-12.8%) in 2015-2018 (p=0.27) among obese young adults. Non-obese young adults showed a decline in hypercholesterolemia from 9.5% (95% CI: 8.0-11.0%) in 2007- 2010 to 7.1% (95% CI: 5.8-8.4%) in 2015-2018 (p=0.002). Conclusions: Nearly one-in-every three young American adults have obesity, which is accompanied by a two-fold higher prevalence of CV risk factors. The CV morbidity in young adults is expected to increase with an increasing prevalence of obesity..


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 141 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Allana T Forde ◽  
Mario Sims ◽  
Paul Muntner ◽  
Tené Lewis ◽  
Amanda Onwuka ◽  
...  

Background: African Americans have a higher risk for hypertension compared to other racial or ethnic groups in the United States. One possible explanation for this health disparity is perceived discrimination. Few studies have prospectively examined the association between discrimination and the incidence of hypertension. Methods: We examined the associations of everyday, lifetime, and stress from lifetime discrimination with incident hypertension and whether these associations differed by sex, discrimination attribution (i.e. the main reason for the discrimination event), and coping responses to discrimination among African Americans enrolled in the Jackson Heart Study. Discrimination was self-reported by 1845 African Americans aged 21 to 85 years without hypertension at baseline (2000-2004). Participants completed two follow-up study visits from 2005-2008 and 2009-2013. We used interval-censored Cox regression to estimate associations of discrimination with incident hypertension (antihypertensive medication use; and/or systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mm Hg at follow-up visits 2 or 3) after adjustment for confounding variables. Results: Overall, 52% (954 of 1845) of participants developed hypertension over the follow-up period. After adjustment for age, sex, education and hypertension risk factors (body mass index, alcohol use, smoking, diet and physical activity), medium versus low levels of lifetime discrimination (hazard ratio-HR: 1.45, 95% confidence interval-CI: 1.15-1.82) and high versus low levels of lifetime discrimination (HR: 1.35, CI: 1.08-1.68) were associated with a higher incidence of hypertension. High versus low stress from lifetime discrimination was associated with hypertension risk after adjustment for demographics (HR: 1.20, CI: 1.02-1.41), but the association was attenuated after adjustment for hypertension risk factors (HR: 1.14, CI: 0.97-1.35). Lifetime discrimination and stress from discrimination were associated with an increased hypertension risk among females, but not males. No interactions with age, attribution or coping were present for any type of discrimination. Conclusions: Findings from this study support an association between lifetime discrimination and incident hypertension in African Americans.


2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. e367-e377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baowen Xue ◽  
Jenny Head ◽  
Anne McMunn

Abstract Background and Objectives People are now spending longer in retirement than ever before and retirement has been found to influence health. This study systematically reviewed the impact of retirement on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its risk factors (metabolic risk factors, blood biomarkers, physical activity, smoking, drinking, and diet). Research Design and Methods Longitudinal studies published in Medline, Embase, Social Science Citation Index, PsycINFO, and Social Policy and Practice were searched. No language restrictions were applied if there was an English abstract. Eighty-two longitudinal studies were included after critical appraisals. Results Studies in the United States often found no significant effect of retirement on CVD, while studies in European countries, except France, showed a detrimental effect of retirement on CVD. Results from the United States and several European countries consistently show that retirement increase adiposity measures among those retired from physically demanding jobs. For diabetes and hypertension, five out of nine studies suggest no effect of retirement. Retirement has been repeatedly linked to increasing leisure-time physical activity but may reduce work- and transport-related physical activity in turn. Most studies showed that retirement either decreased smoking or had no effect on smoking. The evidence did not show a clear conclusion on drinking. Only a few studies have assessed the impact on diet and blood biomarkers. Discussion and Implications Effect of retirement varies according to the health outcomes studied and country of the study population. Policy concerning extending the retirement age needs to focus on ensuring they are suited to the individual.


Author(s):  
Karen R Flórez ◽  
Denise D Payán ◽  
Kartika Palar ◽  
Malcolm V Williams ◽  
Bozena Katic ◽  
...  

Abstract Context Multilevel church-based interventions may help address racial/ethnic disparities in obesity in the United States since churches are often trusted institutions in vulnerable communities. These types of interventions affect at least two levels of socio-ecological influence which could mean an intervention that targets individual congregants as well as the congregation as a whole. However, the extent to which such interventions are developed using a collaborative partnership approach and are effective with diverse racial/ethnic populations is unclear, and these crucial features of well-designed community-based interventions. Objective The present systematic literature review of church-based interventions was conducted to assess their efficacy for addressing obesity across different racial/ethnic groups (eg, African Americans, Latinos). Data Sources and Extraction In total, 43 relevant articles were identified using systematic review methods developed by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Task Force on Community Preventive Services. The extent to which each intervention was developed using community-based participatory research principles, was tailored to the particular community in question, and involved the church in the study development and implementation were also assessed. Data Analysis Although 81% of the studies reported significant results for between- or within-group differences according to the study design, effect sizes were reported or could only be calculated in 56% of cases, and most were small. There was also a lack of diversity among samples (eg, few studies involved Latinos, men, young adults, or children), which limits knowledge about the ability of church-based interventions to reduce the burden of obesity more broadly among vulnerable communities of color. Further, few interventions were multilevel in nature, or incorporated strategies at the church or community level. Conclusions Church-based interventions to address obesity will have greater impact if they consider the diversity among populations burdened by this condition and develop programs that are tailored to these different populations (eg, men of color, Latinos). Programs could also benefit from employing multilevel approaches to move the field away from behavioral modifications at the individual level and into a more systems-based framework. However, effect sizes will likely remain small, especially since individuals only spend a limited amount of time in this particular setting.


2009 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 770-777 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyeongra Yang ◽  
Eileen R. Chasens ◽  
Susan M. Sereika ◽  
Lora E. Burke

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the association between cardiovascular risk factors and the presence of diabetes in a large population-level dataset. Methods A secondary analysis was conducted using data from the 2007 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a population-based survey (n = 403,137) conducted in the United States. Results The majority of the respondents were middle-aged and overweight. Approximately half of the sample reported little or no physical activity. Estimates from a logistic regression model for a weighted sample of white, black, and Hispanic adults revealed that having hypertension or elevated cholesterol was a strong predictor of diabetes even when controlling for age, gender, race, education, income, body mass index, smoking status, and physical activity. Conclusions The results confirmed the importance of diabetes educators counseling patients with hypertension or hypercholesterolemia about their increased risk for developing diabetes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Cesare ◽  
Pallavi Dwivedi ◽  
Quynh C. Nguyen ◽  
Elaine O. Nsoesie

Abstract Obesity is a global epidemic affecting millions. Implementation of interventions to curb obesity rates requires timely surveillance. In this study, we estimated sex-specific obesity prevalence using social media, search queries, demographics and built environment variables. We collected 3,817,125 and 1,382,284 geolocated tweets on food and exercise respectively, from Twitter’s streaming API from April 2015 to March 2016. We also obtained searches related to physical activity and diet from Google Search Trends for the same time period. Next, we inferred the gender of Twitter users using machine learning methods and applied mixed-effects state-level linear regression models to estimate obesity prevalence. We observed differences in discussions of physical activity and foods, with males reporting higher intensity physical activities and lower caloric foods across 40 and 48 states, respectively. In addition, counties with the highest percentage of exercise and food tweets had lower male and female obesity prevalence. Lastly, our models separately captured overall male and female spatial trends in obesity prevalence. The average correlation between actual and estimated obesity prevalence was 0.797(95% CI, 0.796, 0.798) and 0.830 (95% CI, 0.830, 0.831) for males and females, respectively. Social media can provide timely community-level data on health information seeking and changes in behaviors, sentiments and norms. Social media data can also be combined with other data types such as, demographics, built environment variables, diet and physical activity indicators from other digital sources (e.g., mobile applications and wearables) to monitor health behaviors at different geographic scales, and to supplement delayed estimates from traditional surveillance systems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (21) ◽  
pp. 5125
Author(s):  
David Emes ◽  
Anke Hüls ◽  
Nicole Baumer ◽  
Mara Dierssen ◽  
Shiela Puri ◽  
...  

Adults with Down Syndrome (DS) are at higher risk for severe outcomes of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) than the general population, but evidence is required to understand the risks for children with DS, which is necessary to inform COVID-19 shielding advice and vaccination priorities. We aimed to determine the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in children with DS. Using data from an international survey obtained from a range of countries and control data from the United States, we compared the prevalence of symptoms and medical complications and risk factors for severe outcomes between DS and non-DS paediatric populations with COVID-19. Hospitalised COVID-19 patients <18 years with DS had a higher incidence of respiratory symptoms, fever, and several medical complications from COVID-19 than control patients without DS <18 years. Older age, obesity, and epilepsy were significant risk factors for hospitalisation among paediatric COVID-19 patients with DS, and age and thyroid disorder were significant risk factors for acute respiratory distress syndrome. Mortality rates were low in all paediatric COVID-19 patients (with and without DS), contrasting with previous findings in adults with DS (who exhibit higher mortality than those without DS). Children with DS are at increased risk for more severe presentations of COVID-19. Efforts should be made to ensure the comprehensive and early detection of COVID-19 in this population and to identify children with DS who present comorbidities that pose a risk for a severe course of COVID-19. Our results emphasize the importance of vaccinating children with DS as soon as they become eligible.


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