“The Obesity Epidemic in Chinese American Youth?: A Literature Review and Pilot Study”
Volume 6:1, p. 31 (2008)
by Robyn Greenfield Matloff, Angela C. Lee, Roland Tang, and Doug Brugge
ABSTRACT: Despite nearly 12 million Asian Americans living in the United States and continued immigration, this increasingly substantial subpopulation has consistently been left out of national obesity studies. When included in national studies, Chinese-American children have been grouped together with other Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders or simply as “other,” yielding significantly lower rates of overweight and obesity compared to non-Asians. There is a failure to recognize the ethnic diversity of Asian Americans as well as the effect of acculturation. Results from smaller studies of Chinese American youth suggest that they are adopting lifestyles less Chinese and more Americans and that their share of disease burden is growing. We screened 142 children from the waiting room of a community health center that serves primarily recent Chinese immigrants for height, weight and demographic profile. Body Mass Index was calculated and evaluated using CDC growth charts. Overall, 30.1 percent of children were above the 85th we found being male and being born in the U .S. to be statistically significant for BMI > 85th percentile (p=0.039, p=0.001, respectively). Our results suggest that being overweight in this Chinese American immigrant population is associated with being born in the U.S. A change in public policy and framework for research are required to accurately assess the extent of overweight and obesity in Chinese American children. In particular, large scale data should be stratified by age, sex, birthplace and measure of acculturation to identify those at risk and construct tailored interventions.
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Article Citation:
Robyn Greenfield Matloff, Angela Lee, Roland Tang, and Doug Brugge (2008) The Obesity Epidemic in Chinese American Youth?: A Literature Review and Pilot Study. AAPI Nexus: Policy, Practice and Community: 2008, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 31-42.