Abstract
BackgroundCentral obesity is a major risk factor for cardiometabolic diseases. The prevalence of central obesity has not been reported fully among Asian adults in the United States (US).MethodsCross-sectional data of 1288 Asian adults aged 20 years or over was selected from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey with a stratified multi-stage sampling design. The prevalence of central obesity was calculated with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and Chi-square tests were conducted to test the significance of the prevalence differences across characteristic groups.ResultsThe overall prevalence of central obesity among US Asian adults was 58.1% in 2011–2014. The prevalence of central obesity was higher in older adults (73.5%) than in young adults (45.4%) (p < 0.0001). Women had 13.4% higher prevalence than men (64.4% vs 51.0%, p < 0.0001). The prevalence increased over time (2011–2012 vs 2013–2014) in young adults (39.2% vs 51.5%), men (45.4% vs 56.6%), adults with college education or above (54.2% vs 61.7%) and non-poor adults (55.4% vs 62.4%). Compared with men, women had higher prevalence in each subgroup of age, education, poverty, and length of time (except for the subgroup of “born in the US”) (all p < 0.05) and in the subgroup of “married or living with partner” for marital status (p < 0.0001).ConclusionCentral obesity is prevalent in Asian adults, particularly in older adults and women. More efforts are needed to prevent and treat obesity in Asian adults as Asians are incurring the greatest increase in type 2 diabetes in parallel with the rising rate of central adiposity.
Highlights
Central obesity is a major risk factor for cardiometabolic diseases
The prevalence became higher with age from 45.4% in young adults to 73.5% in old adults (p < 0.0001)
There was no significant difference over time in the prevalence of central obesity across the subgroups defined by marital status and length of stay in the United States (US)
Summary
Central obesity is a major risk factor for cardiometabolic diseases. The prevalence of central obesity has not been reported fully among Asian adults in the United States (US). Body mass index (BMI) has been used widely to assess general obesity which is a major risk factor for cardiometabolic disease and overall deaths in the United States (US) [1]. Asians from south Asia have high prevalence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease (CVD), despite low levels of BMI [8,9,10]. As the Asian population is the fastest growing ethnic group in the US [13], Information on obesity with emphasis on central obesity would be useful for determining the risk with interventions targeted at reducing obesity-related complications and enhancing health-related quality of life in Asian adults
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