Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Sep;6(3):314-323.
doi: 10.1007/s13679-017-0274-7.

Obesity in International Migrant Populations

Marie Murphy  1 , Wendy Robertson  1 , Oyinlola Oyebode  2
Affiliations
Review

Obesity in International Migrant Populations

Marie Murphy et al. Curr Obes Rep. 2017 Sep.

Erratum in

Abstract

Purpose of review: This review examines the risk of obesity in migrant groups-specifically migrants from countries with lower prevalence of obesity to countries with higher prevalence of obesity. We examine obesity prevalence within migrant groups compared with native populations and the evidence on factors that might shape obesity risk in these migrant groups.

Recent findings: Migrants may arrive in new countries with a health advantage including generally a healthier body weight. Genetic and epi-genetic factors, as well as body size preference, socio-economic factors, and stress exposure, may play a role in increasing unhealthy weight gain in migrant populations. This unhealthy weight gain leads to similar or greater obesity risk in migrant populations compared with native populations 10-15 years after migration. Meeting the challenge of prevention and treatment of obesity in diverse populations will require greater attention to minority groups in research in the future.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Ethnicity; Migration; Obesity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

Marie Murphy, Wendy Robertson, and Oyinlola Oyebode declare they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Lim SS, Vos T, Flaxman AD, Danaei G, Shibuya K, Adair-Rohani H, et al. A comparative risk assessment of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters in 21 regions, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet (London, England) 2012;380(9859):2224–2260. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61766-8. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ng M, Fleming T, Robinson M, Thomson B, Graetz N, Margono C, et al. Global, regional, and national prevalence of overweight and obesity in children and adults during 1980-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Lancet (London, England) 2014;384(9945):766–781. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60460-8. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bhopal RS. Migration, ethnicity, race, and health in multicultural societies. 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2014.
    1. Rechel B, Mladovsky P, Ingleby D, Mackenbach JP, McKee M. Migration and health in an increasingly diverse Europe. Lancet (London, England) 2013;381(9873):1235–1245. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)62086-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Singh GK, Rodriguez-Lainz A, Kogan MD. Immigrant health inequalities in the United States: use of eight major national data systems. Sci World J. 2013;2013. Available from: http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24288488. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources