1548-P: Body Mass Index in the Obese Category Is Not a 21st Century Value in African Immigrant or African American Women

by sugaradmin



Introduction and Objective: There is a decades old perception that women of African descent prefer large body sizes. Even though body size preference is a major determinant of health behavior, the 21st century view of body size preference in African immigrant (Afr-Im) and African American (AA) women is unknown. Our goal was to assess and compare : 1) body size preference and 2) body size dissatisfaction in 48 Afr-Im and 47 AA women.Methods: Each woman chose two silhouettes from the Stunkard Figure Rating Scale: one for body size preference and one for perceived body size. There are nine silhouettes in the Stunkard Figure Rating Scale and each one corresponds to a BMI category: Underweight BMI (Silhouettes 1 & 2), Normal weight (Silhouettes 3 & 4), Overweight (Silhouettes 5 & 6 & 7) and Obesity (Silhouettes 8 & 9). Body size dissatisfaction was determined by the difference in silhouette number between perceived and preferred body size.Results: Afr-Im women were younger than AA women (38±11(mean±SD) vs. 46±17y, P=0.11), but BMI did not differ by ethnicity (28.5±5.3 vs. 28.7±6.0, P=0.88) nor did the prevalence of obesity (48% vs. 38%, P=0.34). No AFr-Im (0/48) or AA women (0.47), choose silhouettes in the obese category as their body size of preference. In contrast, the most frequently chosen body size category of preference was normal weight and did not differ in Afr-Im and AA women (75% vs. 85%, P=0.22). Body size dissatisfaction due to being too large was higher in Afr-Im than AA women (79% vs. 57%, P=0.02), but dissatisfaction because of small body size occurred only in a minority of participants and did not differ by ethnicity (10% vs 4%, P=0.25). Overall the odds of dissatisfaction because of large body size in Afr-Im women vs AA women was 8.26 (95% CI: 1.81, 37.7, P<0.01).Conclusion: In the 21st century, body size preferences in women of African descent appear to be trending to the normal weight category. The preference away from obesity may be occurring more rapidly in Afr-Im than AA women and have long term implications for better health.

Disclosure

G. Smith: None. A. Shah: None. A. Bharadwaj: None. L. Mabundo: None. C. DuBose: None. M. Horlyck-Romanovsky: None. A. Sumner: None.



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