Abuelezam Nadia N, El-Sayed Abdulrahman M, Galea Sandro, Gordon Nancy P
Boston College William F. Connell School of Nursing, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA, 02467, USA.
College of Literature, Science, & the Arts & Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2022 Apr;9(2):399-405. doi: 10.1007/s40615-021-00970-4. Epub 2021 Jan 27.
Arab Americans are a diverse ethnic group originating from a large geographic area in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). We aim to characterize differences in health between Arab Americans from different geographic subgroups within MENA.
We used cross-sectional electronic health record (EHR) data for a subset of 4913 Arab Americans aged 20-84 in a 2016 Northern California health plan study cohort who could be assigned to one of 4 geographic subgroups (Gulf, African, Levant, and Other) based on EHR ethnicity data. We calculated age-adjusted prevalence estimates for men and women and used generalized linear models to compare Gulf, African, and Other subgroups to Levant Arabs on risk factors (obesity and smoking), chronic conditions (diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and asthma), and mental health (depression and anxiety).
Among women, prevalence of smoking was lower among Gulf, African, and Other Arabs than Levant Arabs. Among men, prevalence of obesity, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia was lower among Gulf, African, and Other Arabs than Levant Arabs, while prevalence of depression was higher for these subgroups than Levant Arabs.
We found substantial differences in health characteristics across Arab Americans from different geographic subgroups. Our results suggest that more detailed race and ethnicity information should be collected on Arab Americans to better understand their diverse health risks.
阿拉伯裔美国人是一个多样化的族群，起源于中东和北非（MENA）的大片地理区域。我们旨在描述中东和北非地区不同地理亚组的阿拉伯裔美国人之间的健康差异。
我们使用了2016年北加利福尼亚健康计划研究队列中4913名年龄在20 - 84岁的阿拉伯裔美国人子集的横断面电子健康记录（EHR）数据，这些人可根据EHR种族数据被分配到4个地理亚组（海湾、非洲、黎凡特和其他）之一。我们计算了男性和女性的年龄调整患病率估计值，并使用广义线性模型比较海湾、非洲和其他亚组与黎凡特阿拉伯人在风险因素（肥胖和吸烟）、慢性病（糖尿病、高血压、高脂血症和哮喘）以及心理健康（抑郁和焦虑）方面的情况。
在女性中，海湾、非洲和其他阿拉伯裔女性的吸烟患病率低于黎凡特阿拉伯裔女性。在男性中，海湾、非洲和其他阿拉伯裔男性的肥胖、糖尿病和高脂血症患病率低于黎凡特阿拉伯裔男性，而这些亚组的抑郁患病率高于黎凡特阿拉伯裔男性。
我们发现不同地理亚组的阿拉伯裔美国人在健康特征上存在显著差异。我们的结果表明，应该收集关于阿拉伯裔美国人更详细的种族和族裔信息，以便更好地了解他们多样的健康风险。
