title: Rapid Weight Gain in Pediatric Refugees after US Immigration.
abstract: Prior studies of immigrants to the United States show significant weight gain after 10 years of US residence. Pediatric refugees are a vulnerable population whose post-immigration weight trajectory has not been studied. We examined the longitudinal weight trajectory of 1067 pediatric refugees seen in a single university based refugee health program between the dates of September 3, 2012 and September 3, 2014 to determine how quickly significant weight gain occurs post-arrival. The most recent BMI was abstracted from the electronic health record and charts reviewed to obtain serial BMI measurements in 3 year increments after the date of US arrival. The mean arrival BMI percentile for all refugees was 47th percentile. This increased significantly to the 63rd percentile within 3 years of US arrival (p < 0.01). This rapid increase was largely attributable to African and South and Southeast Asian refugees. The overall prevalence of age and sex adjusted obesity rose from 7.4 % at arrival to 18.3 % within 9 years of US immigration exceeding the pediatric US national obesity prevalence of 16.9 %. Pediatric refugees are at increased risk of rapid weight gain after US immigration. Targeted interventions focused on prevention of weight gain in specific populations are warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 750 East Adams Street, Syracuse, NY, 13210, USA. olsonb@upstate.edu.
authors.forename: Brad G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Olson
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: Yonatan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kurland
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Paula F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Rosenbaum
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 750 East Adams Street, Syracuse, NY, 13210, USA.
authors.forename: Travis R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Hobart
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000208:ethnology; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000208:ethnology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012036:Refugees / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D035862:Vulnerable Populations; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000208:ethnology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: BMI; Obesity; Pediatric; Refugee; Weight gain