Disparities in Obesity among People With and Without Disabilities by Race/Ethnicity — United States, 2005—2009

Reports highlighting health disparities often focus on racial and ethnic differences and do not consider disability. However, the prevalence of disability has been shown to be higher among non-Hispanic blacks and American Indians/Alaska Natives (AIAN). Obesity also disproportionately affects various racial and ethnic groups including non-Hispanic blacks and Mexican Americans. The purpose of this study is to estimate differences in obesity prevalence by race/ethnicity and disability. Data from the 2005-2009 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were used to estimate obesity prevalence in adults by race/ethnicity and disability. Data from 2005-2009 were aggregated to provide sufficient power to analyze low-count racial/ethnic populations. Multivariate analyses were used to assess the association between different race/ethnicity groups, disability and obesity. Overall, people with disabilities (PWD) were significantly more likely than people without disabilities (PWOD) to be obese, (35.9% vs. 22.4%, p<0.01). The difference in obesity prevalence between PWD and PWOD persisted across all race/ethnicity groups: non-Hispanic blacks (46.3% vs. 32.7%), AIAN (41.3% vs. 27.5%), Hispanic (37.9% vs. 26.3%), non-Hispanic whites (34.3% vs. 20.9%), Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (NHPI) (28.6% vs. 20.3%) and Asian (18.8% vs. 6.6%). The disparity in obesity between PWD compared to PWOD is present regardless of race/ethnicity. Efforts to reduce obesity disparities among racial and ethnic populations must explicitly include people with disabilities in targeted health promotion services.