Immigration and Acculturation in Relation to Health and Health-Related Risk Factors Among Specific Asian Subgroups in a Health Maintenance Organization
Scarlett L. Gomez, PhD,
Jennifer L. Kelsey, PhD,
Sally L. Glaser, PhD,
Marion M. Lee, PhD and
Stephen Sidney, MD, MPH
Scarlett Lin Gomez is with the Department of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif, and the Northern California Cancer Center, Union City, Calif. Jennifer L. Kelsey was with the Department of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif. Sally L. Glaser is with Northern California Cancer Center, Union City, Calif. Marion M. Lee is with the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, Calif. Stephen Sidney is with the Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente, Northern California, Oakland, Calif.
Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Scarlett Lin Gomez, PhD, 32960 Alvarado-Niles Rd, Suite 600, Union City, CA 94587 (e-mail: scarlett{at}nccc.org).
Objectives. We sought to determine how risk factors for diseasevary among Asian subgroups.
Methods. Using data from a casecontrol study conductedat Northern California Kaiser Medical Centers (from 1996 to2001), we compared prevalence of selected risk factors amongAsian subgroups and evaluated the associations of these riskfactors with sociodemographic factors.
Results. Chinese and Japanese patients had a lower body massindex (kg/m2) than did other Asians. In all subgroups, beingborn in the United States was associated with having a bodymass index greater than 25 kg/m2. Compared with other Asians,more Japanese and multiple-race Asians smoked, and more Filipinoand multiple-race Asian smokers started smoking at 18 yearsor younger. Filipinos and multiple-race Asians also were morelikely to report diabetes.
Conclusions. These data support the importance of efforts todistinguish among Asian subgroups in public health practiceand research.
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