Prevalence of overweight and obesity and its associated factors in aboriginal Taiwanese: findings from the 2001 National Health Interview Survey in Taiwan.

The study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of obesity in Taiwanese aborigines and to identify the associated factors. Data for this study were from the "2001 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)" that conducted in-home, face-to-face, interviews on 6,592 households (26,658 persons) of a national probability sample in Taiwan. Aborigine-dense mountainous areas are over-sampled. BMI values were used to indicate obesity status. Logistic regression analyses were used to determine the significance of the association of the variables with the obesity status. Results showed that approximately 10.5% of aboriginal men and 14.5% of women compared to 4.1% and 3.5% of their non-aboriginal counterparts were obese (BMI > 30). An additional 45.1% of aboriginal men and 33.3% of women compared to 27.6% and 17.7% of their non-aboriginal counterparts were overweight (BMI 25-30). Regression analyses revealed few associations with increased risk of obesity in the aborigines. However, the aborigines and non-aborigines were distinctly different from each other in socio-economic status, lifestyle, environmental factors and attitude toward obesity. Results indicate that obesity is more prevalent among the aborigines but the causal reasons are not apparent. The public health authorities should develop more culturally appropriate community-based intervention strategies to promote the health of the aborigines.