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Trends and Prevalence of Obesity in the Arab-American Population of Southeast Michigan and Comparison with their Counterparts
Rouba Ali-Fehmi
Corresponding Author
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View the published version at BMC Public Health.
Background Arab-Americans constitute ~ 5% of Michigan’s population. Estimates of obesity in Arab-Americans are not up-to-date. Here we describe the distribution of, and factors associated with obesity in an Arab-American population.
Methods Arab-American patients, ages 18–98 years, from Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) clinic located in Dearborn, Michigan were identified from medical records. Retrospective chart review abstracted age, sex, marital status, employment, body mass index (BMI), hypertension (HTN), diabetes mellitus (DM), hyperlipidemia (HLD), employment status, tobacco use and alcohol consumption. This cohort was compared to Michigan’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data from 2018 and to a cohort seeking care between 2013–2019 from a free clinic in Ferndale, Michigan.
Results Of the 2,363 Arab-American patients from the ACCESS clinic, 67% (n = 1591) were female and 33% (n = 772) were male. Among Arab-Americans, patients who were older or with HTN, DM or HLD had a higher prevalence of obesity than patients who were younger or without these comorbidities (all p-value < 0.001). Patients with HTN were 3 times as likely to be obese than those without HTN (95% 95% CI: 2.41–3.93; p < 0.001). Similarly, the odds of being obese were 2.5 times higher if the patient was diabetic (95% CI: 1.92–3.16; p < 0.001) and 2.2 times higher if the patient had HLD (95% CI: 1.75–2.83; p < 0.001). 9,589 individuals from Michigan’s BRFSS data were included in the study and no significant difference in obesity rates between Arab-Americans (31%) and the BRFSS population (32.6%) was noted. Compared to Arab-Americans, patients seen at the free clinic (n = 1,033) had a higher obesity rate (52.6%; p < 0.001) as well as significantly higher rates of HTN, DM and HLD (all p < 0.001). In Arab-Americans, a trend was observed in which obesity increased with age upto 44 years and declined thereafter. This was not the case in BRFSS and FCFC patients, where consistent increase in obesity was seen with increasing age.
Conclusion Obesity rates in Arab-Americans were comparable to their BRFSS counterparts, and lower than their FCFC counterparts. Further studies are required to understand the impact of obesity and the association of comorbidities in Arab-Americans residing in the US.
Keywords
Obesity, Body Mass Index (BMI), Arab-Americans, Michigan, Hypertension, Diabetes mellitus, Hyperlipidemia, Employment, Arab, American
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This preprint is under consideration at BMC Public Health. A preprint is a preliminary version of a manuscript that has not completed peer review at a journal. Research Square does not conduct peer review prior to posting preprints. The posting of a preprint on this server should not be interpreted as an endorsement of its validity or suitability for dissemination as established information or for guiding clinical practice.
Learn more about In Review
Research article
Trends and Prevalence of Obesity in the Arab-American Population of Southeast Michigan and Comparison with their Counterparts
Rouba Ali-Fehmi
Corresponding Author
Badges
Prescreen
This manuscript passed our Prescreen assessment
Complete author information
Appropriate declaration statements
Potential risks to human health
Prescreen
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Comments: 0
PDF Downloads: ...
HTML Views: ...
License:
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License. Read Full License
View the published version at BMC Public Health.
Background Arab-Americans constitute ~ 5% of Michigan’s population. Estimates of obesity in Arab-Americans are not up-to-date. Here we describe the distribution of, and factors associated with obesity in an Arab-American population.
Methods Arab-American patients, ages 18–98 years, from Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) clinic located in Dearborn, Michigan were identified from medical records. Retrospective chart review abstracted age, sex, marital status, employment, body mass index (BMI), hypertension (HTN), diabetes mellitus (DM), hyperlipidemia (HLD), employment status, tobacco use and alcohol consumption. This cohort was compared to Michigan’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data from 2018 and to a cohort seeking care between 2013–2019 from a free clinic in Ferndale, Michigan.
Results Of the 2,363 Arab-American patients from the ACCESS clinic, 67% (n = 1591) were female and 33% (n = 772) were male. Among Arab-Americans, patients who were older or with HTN, DM or HLD had a higher prevalence of obesity than patients who were younger or without these comorbidities (all p-value < 0.001). Patients with HTN were 3 times as likely to be obese than those without HTN (95% 95% CI: 2.41–3.93; p < 0.001). Similarly, the odds of being obese were 2.5 times higher if the patient was diabetic (95% CI: 1.92–3.16; p < 0.001) and 2.2 times higher if the patient had HLD (95% CI: 1.75–2.83; p < 0.001). 9,589 individuals from Michigan’s BRFSS data were included in the study and no significant difference in obesity rates between Arab-Americans (31%) and the BRFSS population (32.6%) was noted. Compared to Arab-Americans, patients seen at the free clinic (n = 1,033) had a higher obesity rate (52.6%; p < 0.001) as well as significantly higher rates of HTN, DM and HLD (all p < 0.001). In Arab-Americans, a trend was observed in which obesity increased with age upto 44 years and declined thereafter. This was not the case in BRFSS and FCFC patients, where consistent increase in obesity was seen with increasing age.
Conclusion Obesity rates in Arab-Americans were comparable to their BRFSS counterparts, and lower than their FCFC counterparts. Further studies are required to understand the impact of obesity and the association of comorbidities in Arab-Americans residing in the US.
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