There is considerable heterogeneity in the prevalence of obesity among different Asian-American subgroups in the United States, according to a study published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Nilay S. Shah, MD, MPH, and colleagues quantified the prevalence of obesity in Asian-American subgroups among US adults in a cross-sectional
study conducted during 2013-2020. The analytic sample included nearly 2.9 million adults from the US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys. Among all participants, more than 2.5 million were non-Hispanic White (NHW); 263,136 were non-Hispanic Black (NHB); and 71,057 were non-Hispanic Asian (NHA), including 13,916 Asian Indian, 11,686 Chinese, 11,815 Filipino, 12,473 Japanese, 3,634 Korean, and 2,618 Vietnamese Americans. The adjusted prevalence rates of obesity by standardized BMI thresholds were 11.7% among NHA, 39.7% among NHB, and 29.4% among NHW participants. Prevalence rates were 16.8% in Filipino Americans, 15.3% in Japanese Americans, 11.2% in Asian Indian Americans, 8.5% in Korean Americans, 6.5% in Chinese Americans, and 6.3% in Vietnamese Americans. Using modified criteria (BMI ≥27.5 kg/m2), the prevalence was 22.4% in NHA participants overall.

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