Dramatic Increases in Obesity and Overweight Prevalence among Asian Subgroups in the United States, 1992–2011

Table 2

Adjusted odds and prevalence¹ of obesity (BMI ≥ 30) among the Asian/Pacific Islanders and the non-Hispanic whites aged 18+ and by selected sociodemographic characteristics: United States, 1992–2011.

Covariates		1992–1995 (𝑁 = 242,523)				2006–2011 (𝑁 = 104,719)
	OR	95% CI	%	SE	OR	95% CI	%	SE
Race/ethnicity
Non-Hispanic white	4.77	3.40–6.69	13.9	0.1	4.66	3.53–6.15	25.5	0.2
Chinese	1.00	Reference	3.3	0.6	1.00	Reference	7.1	0.9
Asian Indian	2.15	1.38–3.35	6.8	1.1	3.14	2.20–4.48	19.0	2.0
Filipino	2.15	1.52–3.03	6.9	1.0	3.80	2.79–5.19	22.0	1.3
Korean	0.97	0.51–1.85	3.2	0.9
Vietnamese	0.33	0.15–0.71	1.1	0.4
Japanese	1.89	1.38–2.59	6.1	0.8
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	10.47	5.92–18.49	25.7	3.6	10.86	7.44–15.87	43.5	3.4
Other APIs^2	3.79	2.53–5.68	11.4	1.7	1.72	1.25–2.35	11.5	0.8
Duration of residence in the USA (years)
<1	0.51	0.31–0.85	7.7	1.8	0.34	0.17–0.67	10.8	3.3
1–5	0.72	0.55–0.93	10.4	1.2	0.37	0.26–0.54	11.6	1.9
5–9	0.45	0.37–0.55	6.9	0.6	0.49	0.37–0.64	14.6	1.6
10–14	0.57	0.46–0.71	8.5	0.8	0.47	0.36–0.60	14.1	1.5
15+	0.74	0.68–0.80	10.7	0.4	0.74	0.67–0.83	20.5	0.8
US-born	1.00	Reference	13.9	0.1	1.00	Reference	25.6	0.2
Age (years)
18–24	1.00	Reference	6.5	0.2	1.00	Reference	13.4	0.5
25–34	1.94	1.81–2.08	11.8	0.2	1.90	1.72–2.09	22.4	0.5
35–44	2.67	2.50–2.86	15.4	0.2	2.64	2.38–2.92	28.5	0.5
45–54	3.51	3.29–3.75	19.3	0.2	2.77	2.51–3.06	29.4	0.4
55–64	3.22	3.01–3.46	18.0	0.3	3.02	2.70–3.36	31.2	0.5
65+	1.90	1.76–2.05	11.6	0.2	1.87	1.69–2.07	22.2	0.4
Gender
Male	1.00	Reference	14.6	0.1	1.00	Reference	26.4	0.3
Female	0.86	0.84–0.88	12.8	0.1	0.86	0.83–0.90	23.7	0.3
Education (years of school completed)
0–8	1.99	1.87–2.11	18.2	0.3	1.69	1.52–1.89	28.5	1.0
9–11	1.76	1.67–1.86	16.5	0.3	1.65	1.53–1.79	28.0	0.6
12	1.50	1.44–1.56	14.4	0.2	1.68	1.59–1.78	28.3	0.4
13–15	1.35	1.29–1.41	13.2	0.2	1.55	1.47–1.63	26.8	0.4
16+	1.00	Reference	10.2	0.2	1.00	Reference	19.3	0.3
Poverty status (ratio of family income to poverty threshold)^3
<100%	1.71	1.57–1.87	17.7	0.6	1.32	1.22–1.42	27.9	0.6
100–199%	1.62	1.52–1.72	16.9	0.3	1.35	1.26–1.44	28.4	0.5
200–299%	1.47	1.39–1.54	15.6	0.2	1.22	1.15–1.30	26.5	0.4
300–399%	1.32	1.26–1.38	14.3	0.2	1.22	1.14–1.31	26.6	0.6
400–499%	1.22	1.17–1.28	13.4	0.2	1.08	1.01–1.14	24.2	0.5
≥500%	1.00	Reference	11.3	0.2	1.00	Reference	22.9	0.4

OR: odds ratio; SE: standard error; CI: confidence interval.
¹Adjusted prevalence was derived from fitted logistic models that included survey year, age, gender, race/ethnicity, length of immigration, marital status, region of residence, education, and poverty status (or family income and family size).
²Other Asian categories include the Koreans, the Vietnamese, the Japanese, the Cambodians, the Laotians, the Hmongs, the Thais, the Pakistanis, and other Asian groups.
³The income categories during 1992–1995 were <7000, 7000–14999, 15000–24999, 25000–34999, 35000–49999, and 50000+. Family income, instead of poverty status, was used for the 1992–1995 NHIS.