Differences in Overweight or Obesity, Changes in Dietary Habits after Studying Abroad and Sleep Quality by Acculturative Degree among Asian Foreign Students: A Cross Sectional Pilot Study

Abstract

The number of foreign students is increasing worldwide, and they suffer from acculturation to different environments or cultures. This pilot study examined the difference in overweight or obesity, changes in dietary habits after studying abroad and sleep quality according to acculturative degree among 225 Asian foreign students in South Korea. Most subjects (61.8%) experienced a low acculturative degree. The change in dietary habits after studying abroad showed a significant difference according to the acculturative degree (p < 0.001); however, there were no differences observed in sleep quality (p = 0.090) and prevalence of overweight or obesity according to acculturative degree (p = 0.101). Interestingly, a difference in the risk for being overweight or obese by sleep quality after being stratified into groups according to acculturative degree was observed. Among the groups with a low acculturative degree, subjects reporting poor sleep quality had a 2.875-fold (95% CI = 1.167−7.080) higher risk of being overweight or obese than those reporting good sleep quality. However, the risk of being overweight or obese was not different among the high acculturative group regardless of their sleep quality. The results showed that the degree of acculturation could influence the risk of being overweight or obese according to sleep quality among Asian foreign students.

Keywords: acculturative degree; dietary habits; foreign students; obesity; overweight; sleep pattern.

Figure 1

The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for overweight and obesity according to acculturative degree and various factors. (A) Stratified by sleep quality [good sleep quality (PSQI ≤ 5) as a reference]; (B) stratified by changes in dietary habits after studying abroad [good dietary habits (≥median value 115.00 score) as a reference]. The adjusted odds ratios were calculated using multinomial logistic regression for age and gender.