Obesity and Regional Immigrant Density

AbstractCanada has an increasingly large immigrant population. Areas of higher immigrant density, may relate to immigrants ’ health through reduced acculturation to Western foods, greater access to cultural foods, and/or promotion of salubrious values/practices. It is unclear, however, whether an association exists between Canada-wide regional immigrant density and obesity among immigrants. Thus, we examined whether r egional immigrant density was related to obesity, among immigrants. Adult immigrant respondents (n = 15,595) to a national population-level health survey were merged with region-level immigrant density data. Multi-level logistic regression was used to model the odds of obesity associated with in creased immigrant density. The prevalence of obesity among the analytic sample was 16%. Increasing regional immigrant density was associated with lower odds of obesity among minority immigrants and long-term white immigrants. Immigrant density at the region-level in Canada may be an important contex tual factor to consider when examining obesity among immigrants.
Source: Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: research