Syed M. Shah|Tom Loney|Salma Al Dhaheri|Hassan Vatanparast|Iffat Elbarazi|Mukesh Agarwal|Iain Blair|Raghib Ali
Association between acculturation, obesity and cardiovascular risk factors among male South Asian migrants in the United Arab Emirates – a cross-sectional study
United Arab Emirates University|United Arab Emirates University|Abu Dhabi Health Services|University of Saskatchewan|United Arab Emirates University|United Arab Emirates University|United Arab Emirates University|United Arab Emirates University
approximately 65 united arab emirates uae population economic migrants low middleincome countries south asia emerging evidence suggests expatriate populations low middleincome countries migrate highincome countries acculturate lifestyle obesogenic behaviours host country previous research focussed migrant populations united states objective study assess prevalence obesity explore relationship years residency surrogate measure acculturation obesity among south asian india pakistan bangladesh male immigrants residing uaea random sample 1375 males recruited mandatory residency visa health screening centre abu dhabi uae employing crosssectional design participants completed interviewerled adapted version world health organisation steps questionnaire anthropometric blood pressure measurements collected glycated haemoglobin hba1c measured random subsample n 100 logistic regression used determine risk factors classified obese assess relationship years residency adipositythe overall prevalence body mass indexderived overweight obesity estimates waisttohipderived central obesity rates 615 447 917 667 males respectively hypertension present 419 305 sample diabetes 9 90 subsample living uae six 10 years 10 years independently associated classified central obesity adjusted odds ratio aor 163 95 confidence intervals ci 113 235 p 0008 aor 195 95 ci 126 301 p 0002 respectively compared residing uae one five yearsour study revealed high prevalence overweight central obesity hypertension amongst young south asian male migrant population uae study findings suggest diminished healthy migrant effect increased years residency possibly due greater acculturation transition lifestyle behaviours health initiatives targeting maintenance healthy body size coupled regular assessments glucose control blood pressure urgently required population