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Update on Chinese American Childhood Obesity Prevalence in New York City

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Abstract

Prevalence of overweight and obesity was measured in 12,275 Chinese American children and adolescents, ages 2–19, who were patients at a large federally qualified health center in 2015. Demographic characteristics sex, age, and birthplace were further stratified to explore disaggregated prevalence. Comparison of this 2015 cohort to an ethnically similar study cohort from the same health center in 2004 showed that the overall prevalence in overweight and obesity dropped to 21% from previously recorded 24%. US Born school-aged males continue to have the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity at 36%. School-aged children have higher odds of being overweight or obese (OR 1.61, P < 0.001; OR 1.99, P < 0.001) compared to adolescents. Although the foreign-born females had the lowest prevalence of overweight and obesity (12%), they were the only group in 2015 to have increased prevalence in overweight and obesity since 2004 (by 5.8%).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Charles B. Wang Community Health Center, 125 Walker Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY, 10013, USA

    Loretta Au, Jennifer D. Lau, Eda Chao, Raymond Tse & Laminasti Elbaar

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  1. Loretta Au
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  2. Jennifer D. Lau
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  3. Eda Chao
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  4. Raymond Tse
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  5. Laminasti Elbaar
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Correspondence to Loretta Au.

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Au, L., Lau, J.D., Chao, E. et al. Update on Chinese American Childhood Obesity Prevalence in New York City. J Immigrant Minority Health 20, 1303–1307 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-017-0656-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-017-0656-7

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