Hispanics, Blacks have highest obesity rates

US obesity rates highest in blacks, Hispanics
Shelley Wood | The Heart, July 16, 2009

Atlanta, GA - Prevalence of obesity in black Americans is 50% higher than that of white Americans, with obesity rates in Hispanics falling roughly halfway between the two groups, according to new statistics released in the July 17, 2009 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The pattern of obesity prevalence across different racial groups was consistent across US states, although the actual rates varied considerably, Dr Liping Pan (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA) and colleagues write.

Their analysis was drawn from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) surveys conducted between 2006 and 2008, relying on telephone survey responses. Over this time period, obesity prevalence among black Americans (defined as "non-Hispanic blacks") was 35.7%, as compared with 28.7% in Hispanic Americans and 23.7% in "non-Hispanic whites."

In general, rates of obesity in blacks and Hispanics were higher in women than in men, across all survey regions, peaking at 39.2% in black women. White women, however, had the lowest obesity rates, at 21.8%.

Obesity prevalence was highest in the South and Midwest regions and lowest in the West. On a state level, obesity prevalence soared to its highest level in Maine (45.1% for black Americans) and was at its lowest in DC (9% in white Americans).

"Given the overall high prevalence of obesity and the significant differences among non-Hispanic blacks, non-Hispanic whites, and Hispanics, effective policies and environmental strategies that promote healthy eating and physical activity are needed for all populations and geographic areas, but particularly for those populations and areas disproportionally affected by obesity," Pan et al conclude.

An editorial note accompanying the report points out that the rates of obesity in Pan et al's analysis are in fact lower than those cited in the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) analysis, in which height and weight were actually measured; in the BRFSS data, weight was self-reported and "therefore likely to produce underestimates," the editorial suggests.

Reasons for the different obesity rates include a lower likelihood of regular physical activity among blacks and Hispanics; less access to affordable healthful foods; reduced access to fitness opportunities; and different cultural attitudes toward body image and size, the editorial notes.