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Ethnicity, Neighborhood and Individual Socioeconomic Status, and Obesity: The Singapore Multiethnic Cohort
Author(s) -
Park Su Hyun,
Nicolaou Mary,
Dickens Borame Sue Lee,
Yang Qianyu,
Tan Ken Wei,
Dam Rob M.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
obesity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.438
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1930-739X
pISSN - 1930-7381
DOI - 10.1002/oby.22995
Subject(s) - ethnic group , socioeconomic status , malay , obesity , demography , medicine , marital status , odds , cohort , odds ratio , logistic regression , gerontology , environmental health , population , sociology , linguistics , philosophy , anthropology
Objective It remains unclear whether ethnicity has an impact on obesity independent of socioeconomic status (SES) and environmental factors. Singapore provides a unique opportunity to address this issue because three major Asian ethnic groups are represented, and government policies prevent ethnic segregation. Therefore this study examined associations between ethnicity, SES, and obesity within neighborhoods in Singapore. Methods Cross‐sectional data from 29,819 participants of the Singapore Multiethnic Cohort who were aged 21 to 75 years and of Chinese, Malay, and Indian ethnicity were used. Obesity was defined using Asian criteria. Multilevel models used obesity as the dependent variable and age, marital status, ethnicity, education level, income, and neighborhood SES as independent variables. Results Education level was more strongly inversely associated with obesity than income level or neighborhood SES. The association between ethnicity and obesity was not substantially explained by measures of individual and neighborhood SES. In females, the fully adjusted odds ratio of obesity was 5.01 for Malay ethnicity and 4.81 for Indian ethnicity as compared with Chinese ethnicity. In males, these odds ratios were 2.61 and 2.07, respectively. Conclusions Ethnicity was strongly associated with obesity independent of SES and neighborhood environment. More research on sociocultural factors contributing to ethnic differences in obesity is warranted.