Overweight and obesity in young Turkish, Moroccan and Surinamese migrants of the second generation in the Netherlands

Abstract

Objective: To examine differences in overweight and obesity of second-generation Turkish, Moroccan and Surinamese migrants v. first-generation migrants and the ethnic Dutch. We also studied the influence of sociodemographic factors on this association.

Design: Data were collected in 2008 in a cross-sectional postal and online health survey.

Setting: Four major Dutch cities.

Subjects: In the survey 42 686 residents aged 16 years and over participated. Data from Dutch (n 3615) and second/first-generation Surinamese (n 230/139), Turkish (n 203/241) and Moroccan (n 172/187) participants aged 16-34 years were analysed using logistic regression with overweight (BMI ≥ 25·0 kg/m²) and obesity (BMI ≥ 30·0 kg/m²) as dependent variables. BMI was calculated from self-reported body height and weight. Sociodemographic variables included sex, age, marital status, educational level, employment status and financial situation.

Results: After controlling for age, overweight (including obesity) was more prevalent in most second-generation migrant subgroups compared with the Dutch population, except for Moroccan men. Obesity rates among second-generation migrant men were similar to those among the Dutch. Second-generation migrant women were more often obese than Dutch women. Ethnic differences were partly explained by the lower educational level of second-generation migrants. Differences in overweight between second- and first-generation migrants were only found among Moroccan and Surinamese men.

Conclusions: We did not find a converging trend for the overweight and obesity prevalence from second-generation migrants towards the Dutch host population. Therefore, preventive interventions should also focus on second-generation migrants to stop the obesity epidemic.