College of Public Health Faculty and Alumna Publish on Obesity

Shaoqing Gong, 2017 alumna of the East Tennessee State University College of Public Health’s Doctor of Public Health program in Epidemiology, has published on changes in obesity rates among Asian Americans.  The article, “The influence of immigrant generation on obesity among Asian Americans in California from 2013 to 2014” was published in the February 2019 edition of PLOS ONE.

Drs. Kesheng Wang and Arsham Alamian, faculty in the Departments of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, and Dr. Ying Li, faculty in the Department of Environmental Health, are co-authors.

Asian immigrants first came to the United States in significant numbers more than a century and a half ago, mainly as low-skilled male laborers who mined, farmed and built the railroads. In 2014, among a total 42.4 million immigrants in the U.S., Asian Americans accounted for 42.4%.  The health of an immigrant population is a function of influences derived from the sending country, the receiving country, and the migration and resettlement experience itself. The existence of a healthy immigrant effect, i.e., that immigrants are on average healthier than the native born, is a widely cited phenomenon across a multitude of literatures including epidemiology and the social sciences.  To date, however, there is very limited research examining the influence of immigrant generation on obesity among Asian Americans.

The aim of this research was to analyze the association of immigration generation and obesity among Asian Americans in California. The research team analyzed data from a large population-based sample that is representative of Asian ethnic groups: Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese. In contrast, most national surveys on health sample a small number of Asian Americans. Further, they pooled weighted data from the latest cycle of California population, i.e., 2013–2014. The results of this study can help to refine the diverse risk profile for obesity among Asian Americans while also contributing to the overall understanding of the impact of migration on chronic health conditions.

Overall, 23.3% of the Asian population was obese, and 40.0% was overweight. The percentage of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation were 72.7%, 22.6%, and 4.6%, respectively. Overall, 1st generation of Asians had lower odds of being obese compared to Whites.  Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that overall, 2nd generation and 3rd generation Asians had higher odds of being obese compared to 1st generation Asians. Among Chinese, compared to the 1st generation, the 3rd generation had increased likelihood of being obese.

Compared to Whites, Hispanics, and Blacks, Asian immigrants are less likely to be obese. Among Asians, 2nd and 3rd generations were more likely to be obese than 1st generation. The obesity rate seems to increase the longer Asian immigrants remain in the United States. The results of this study can help to better understand the diverse risk profile for obesity among Asian Americans while also contributing to the overall understanding of the impact of migration on chronic health conditions.