Asian Americans: Diabetes Prevalence Across U.S. and World Health Organization Weight Classifications

OBJECTIVE -- To compare diabetes prevalence among Asian Americans by World Health Organization and U.S. BMI classifications. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS -- Data on Asian American adults (n = 7,414) from the National Health Interview Survey for 1997-2005 were analyzed. Diabetes prevalence was estimated across weight and ethnic group strata. RESULTS -- Regardless of BMI classification, Asian Indians and Filipinos had the highest prevalence of overweight (34-47 and 35-47%, respectively, compared with 20-38% in Chinese; P < 0.05). Asian Indians also had the highest ethnic-specific diabetes prevalence (ranging from 6-7% among the normal weight to 19-33% among the obese) compared with non-Hispanic whites: odds ratio (95% CI) for Asian Indians 2.0 (1.5-2.6), adjusted for age and sex, and 3.1 (2.4-4.0) with additional adjustment for BMI. CONCLUSIONS -- Asian Indian ethnicity, but not other Asian ethnicities, was strongly associated with diabetes. Weight classification as a marker of diabetes risk may need to accommodate differences across Asian subgroups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Diabetes Care is the property of American Diabetes Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)