title: Asian Americans: diabetes prevalence across U.S. and World Health Organization weight classifications.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare diabetes prevalence among Asian Americans by World Health Organization and U.S. BMI classifications.
  
  
  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.
authors.affiliation: Nutrition and Health Sciences Program, Graduate Division of Biomedical and Biological Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. roza@emory.edu
authors.forename: Reena
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Oza-Frank
authors.forename: Mohammed K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Viola
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vaccarino
authors.forename: K M Venkat
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Narayan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001213:Asian; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult