US Immigrants experiencing chronic health conditions: Prevalence of obesity, hypertension & diabetes among racial/ethnic populations

Background: Research on overweight and related chronic conditions affecting U.S. minority immigrants is often based on self-reported, instead of standardized medical examination, data obtained from national health surveys. Assessing recent data on objective measures of these conditions may provide a useful comparison to previously reported immigrant health conditions. Purpose: Prevalence of obesity and associated chronic conditions (hypertension and diabetes), among racial/ethnic populations in the US were examined. Association between length of residency and these healthy conditions were determined among minority immigrant populations. Methods: The 2007-2008 NHANES data analyzed included standardized measures of BMI, blood pressure and diabetes. Race/ethnicity and immigrant status classification, length of U.S. residency, and other demographic characteristics were examined. Results: African-Americans had the highest obesity rates (33.1%). Among Hispanic immigrants, there was nearly a twofold increase in obesity prevalence among those with ≤20 years length of U.S. residency (43%) than those with >10 years (24.8%). Also, African-Americans had the highest prevalence of both hypertension (14.5%) and diabetes (10.2%). Hispanic immigrants had slightly higher rates of hypertension and diabetes than Hispanic-Americans (9% vs. 7.3%). Obese individuals had higher rates of hypertension and diabetes (13.8% and 12.6%) than non-obese individuals (9.8% and 3.4%). Conclusion: This study improves upon self-reported prevalence of obesity, hypertension and diabetes, by using standardized measures. It demonstrates that U.S. immigrants are equally as affected by obesity and associated co-morbidities as native-born Americans. Further observations indicating that immigrants' length of residency in the US correlates to a higher prevalence of such health conditions is disconcerting.