Preventive Medicine
Volume 69, 2014, Pages 151-156

Differences in anthropometric measures in immigrants and Swedish-born individuals: Results from two community-based cohort studies (Article)

Carlsson A.C.* , Wändell P. , Riserus U. , Ärnlöv J. , Borné Y. , Engström G. , Leander K. , Gigante B. , Hellénius M.-L. , de Faire U.
  • a Centre for Family Medicine, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden, Department of Medical Sciences, Molecular Epidemiology and Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
  • b Centre for Family Medicine, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden
  • c Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
  • d Department of Medical Sciences, Molecular Epidemiology and Science for Life Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, School of Health and Social Studies, Dalarna University, Falun, Sweden
  • e Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
  • f Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
  • g Division of Cardiovascular Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  • h Division of Cardiovascular Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  • i Cardiology Unit, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  • j Division of Cardiovascular Epidemiology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, Department of Cardiology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract

Aim: To study differences in body mass index (BMI), waist-hip ratio (WHR), waist circumference (WC), sagittal abdominal diameter (SAD), waist-hip-height ratio (WHHR) and percent body fat in immigrants and Swedish-born men and women in two large population-based samples. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of 60-year-old individuals, n=4 232. To replicate the results, we also assessed another large independent cohort cross-sectionally, the Malmö Diet and Cancer Study (MDC, n=26 777). The data from both cohorts were collected in the 1990s in Sweden. Results: Significant differences between Finnish-born, Middle Eastern and women from the rest of the world were seen for all anthropometric measures, using Swedish-born women as referent. However, WHHR was the only anthropometric measure that identified all these three groups of immigrant women as different from Swedish-born women with high statistical certainty (p< 0.001). Apart from WHHR that identified differences in anthropometry in all immigrant groups of men using Swedish-born men as referent, few significant differences were seen in anthropometry among groups of immigrant men. These finding were observed in both cohorts, and remained after adjustments for smoking, physical activity and educational level. Conclusion: The present study confirms previous findings of more obesity among immigrants and is the first to report that WHHR measurements may detect anthropometric differences between different ethnic groups better than other anthropometrical measures. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.

Author Keywords

Obesity Body mass index (BMI) Waist-hip ratio (WHR) Low resource settings Waist-hip-height ratio (WHHR) Ethnic differences

Index Keywords

physical activity educational status immigrant sagittal abdominal diameter Europe Waist-Hip Ratio Waist Circumference waist to height ratio human waist hip ratio middle aged Cohort Studies statistics and numerical data obesity Aged ethnology Sweden cross-sectional study migrant ethnic difference smoking Humans male Emigrants and Immigrants female Article adult cohort analysis Linear Models statistical model anthropometry body mass Body Mass Index
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84908020378&doi=10.1016%2fj.ypmed.2014.09.020&partnerID=40&md5=c2dad743b959d7516dbce11110257982
DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2014.09.020
ISSN: 00917435
Cited by: 8
Original Language: English