The association of religiosity with overweight/obese body mass index among Asian Indian immigrants in California

• Published in: Preventive medicine 2013-10, Vol.57 (4), p.315-321
• Main Authors: Bharmal, Nazleen, M. Kaplan, Robert, Shapiro, Martin F, Kagawa-Singer, Marjorie, Wong, Mitchell D, Mangione, Carol M, Divan, Hozefa, McCarthy, William J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Asian Indian; Biological and medical sciences; Body Mass Index; California - epidemiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Emigrants and Immigrants - psychology; Emigrants and Immigrants - statistics & numerical data; Female; Hinduism - psychology; Hindus; Humans; Immigrants; India - ethnology; Internal Medicine; Islam - psychology; Logistic Models; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; Muslims; Obesity; Obesity - epidemiology; Obesity - psychology; Overweight - epidemiology; Overweight - psychology; Prevention and actions; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Religiosity; Risk Factors; Spirituality; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0091-7435; 1096-0260
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2013.06.003

Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to examine the association between religiosity and overweight or obese body mass index among a multi-religious group of Asian Indian immigrants residing in California. Methods We examined cross-sectional survey data obtained from in-language telephone interviews with 3228 mostly immigrant Asian Indians in the 2004 California Asian Indian Tobacco Survey using multivariate logistic regression. Results High self-identified religiosity was significantly associated with higher BMI after adjusting for socio-demographic and acculturation measures. Highly religious Asian Indians had 1.53 greater odds (95% CI: 1.18, 2.00) of being overweight or obese than low religiosity immigrants, though this varied by religious affiliation. Religiosity was associated with greater odds of being overweight/obese for Hindus (OR 1.54; 95% CI: 1.08, 2.22) and Sikhs (OR 1.88; 95% CI: 1.07, 3.30), but not for Muslims (OR 0.69; 95% CI: 0.28, 1.70). Conclusions Religiosity in Hindus and Sikhs, but not immigrant Muslims, appears to be independently associated with greater body mass index among Asian Indians. If this finding is confirmed, future research should identify potentially mutable mechanisms by which religion-specific religiosity affects overweight/obesity risk.