Trends and Prevalence of Obesity in the Arab-American Population of Southeast Michigan and Comparison with their Counterparts

Abstract Background Arab-Americans constitute ~ 5% of Michigan’s population. Estimates of obesity in Arab-Americans are not up-to-date. Here we describe the distribution of, and factors associated with obesity in an Arab-American population.Methods Arab-American patients, ages 18–98 years, from Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) clinic located in Dearborn, Michigan were identified from medical records. Retrospective chart review abstracted age, sex, marital status, employment, body mass index (BMI), hypertension (HTN), diabetes mellitus (DM), hyperlipidemia (HLD), employment status, tobacco use and alcohol consumption. This cohort was compared to Michigan’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data from 2018 and to a cohort seeking care between 2013–2019 from a free clinic in Ferndale, Michigan.Results Of the 2,363 Arab-American patients from the ACCESS clinic, 67% (n = 1591) were female and 33% (n = 772) were male. Among Arab-Americans, patients who were older or with HTN, DM or HLD had a higher prevalence of obesity than patients who were younger or without these comorbidities (all p-value < 0.001). Patients with HTN were 3 times as likely to be obese than those without HTN (95% 95% CI: 2.41–3.93; p < 0.001). Similarly, the odds of being obese were 2.5 times higher if the patient was diabetic (95% CI: 1.92–3.16; p < 0.001) and 2.2 times higher if the patient had HLD (95% CI: 1.75–2.83; p < 0.001). 9,589 individuals from Michigan’s BRFSS data were included in the study and no significant difference in obesity rates between Arab-Americans (31%) and the BRFSS population (32.6%) was noted. Compared to Arab-Americans, patients seen at the free clinic (n = 1,033) had a higher obesity rate (52.6%; p < 0.001) as well as significantly higher rates of HTN, DM and HLD (all p < 0.001). In Arab-Americans, a trend was observed in which obesity increased with age upto 44 years and declined thereafter. This was not the case in BRFSS and FCFC patients, where consistent increase in obesity was seen with increasing age.Conclusion Obesity rates in Arab-Americans were comparable to their BRFSS counterparts, and lower than their FCFC counterparts. Further studies are required to understand the impact of obesity and the association of comorbidities in Arab-Americans residing in the US.