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Sex Differences and Predictors of Changes in Body Weight and Noncommunicable Diseases in a Random, Newly-Arrived Group of Refugees Followed for Two Years

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An Erratum to this article was published on 21 April 2017

This article has been updated

Abstract

We have reported that none of the psychological/mental variables examined predicted the increase in BMI and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Iraqi refugees after 1 year resettlement in Michigan. We continuously followed the same cohort of refugees for 2 years (Y2 FU) to further determine the gender difference in predicting of increased BMI and NCDs. Only 20% of the BMI variability could be accounted for by the factors examined. Number of dependent children and depression were positively and stress negatively associated with BMI in male refugees but not in females. Number of dependent children was negatively associated with changes in BMI and in males only. Two-third of the NCD variability was accounted for by gender, BMI, employment status, depression, posttraumatic stress disorders and coping skills. Unmarried, unemployed and with high PTSD scores at Y2 in males were positively and number of dependent children was negatively associated with NCD changes in females. Factors such as dietary patterns and lifestyle may have contributed to the increased BMI and NCDs in these refugees at 2 years post-settlement.

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  • 21 April 2017

    An erratum to this article has been published.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, R01MH085793). Drs. Arnetz and Jamil are also partially supported by a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (P30ES020957). We would like to thank our community partners and all refugees that volunteered to take part in this study. Without their strong support and commitment, the study would not have been possible. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the official view of NIMH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA

    K-L. Catherine Jen & Kequan Zhou

  2. Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA

    Hikmet Jamil & Bengt B. Arnetz

  3. Department of Family Medicine, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, 220 Trowbridge Rd, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Hikmet Jamil, Karen Breejen & Bengt B. Arnetz

  4. Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Bengt B. Arnetz

Authors
  1. K-L. Catherine Jen
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  2. Hikmet Jamil
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  3. Kequan Zhou
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  4. Karen Breejen
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  5. Bengt B. Arnetz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to K-L. Catherine Jen.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

All authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all refugees participating in this study.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all refugees participating in this study.

Additional information

The original version of this article was revised: The co-author name should be Bengt B. Arnetz instead of Bengt B. Arnet. This has been corrected in this version.

An erratum to this article is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-017-0581-9.

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Jen, KL.C., Jamil, H., Zhou, K. et al. Sex Differences and Predictors of Changes in Body Weight and Noncommunicable Diseases in a Random, Newly-Arrived Group of Refugees Followed for Two Years. J Immigrant Minority Health 20, 283–294 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-017-0565-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-017-0565-9

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