Arfken C L, Houston C A
Center for Health Behavior Research, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 63108, USA.
Ethn Health. 1996 Dec;1(4):317-26. doi: 10.1080/13557858.1996.9961801.
Obesity, a risk factor for chronic diseases, has a high prevalence in African Americans and low-income individuals. However, little is known about perceptions of overweight, attempts to lose weight, and strategies used to lose weight among African Americans in inner cities.
A 1990 cross-sectional telephone survey (n = 1445) of north St Louis and central Kansas City, USA.
Obesity was common (44%) in this sample of inner-city African Americans. The obese perceived themselves as overweight (70%) and were trying to lose weight (66%). The majority of the obese (68%) were both dieting and exercising to lose weight. Smoking prevalence was not higher among the obese or those trying to lose weight. Many of the obese had received medical advice recently on low-fat diets (51%) and had been advised to lose weight (40%). Factors independently associated with perception, attempts to lose weight and medical advice differed, but included degree of obesity.
These results corroborate US national data that obesity is a public health problem in this population and that obese inner-city African Americans perceive themselves as overweight and are trying to lose weight, especially as degree of obesity increases. It also appears that smoking is not being used as a weight loss strategy and that the obese, as a group, are receiving some medical advice on low-fat diets. This information is critical for designing culturally sensitive weight-control programmes.
肥胖是慢性疾病的一个风险因素，在非裔美国人和低收入人群中普遍存在。然而，对于内城区非裔美国人对超重的认知、减肥尝试以及减肥所采用的策略知之甚少。
1990年对美国圣路易斯北部和堪萨斯城中部进行的一项横断面电话调查（n = 1445）。
在这个内城区非裔美国人样本中，肥胖很常见（44%）。肥胖者认为自己超重（70%）并且正在尝试减肥（66%）。大多数肥胖者（68%）同时通过节食和锻炼来减肥。肥胖者或试图减肥者的吸烟率并不更高。许多肥胖者最近接受了关于低脂饮食的医学建议（51%）并且被建议减肥（40%）。与认知、减肥尝试和医学建议独立相关的因素有所不同，但包括肥胖程度。
这些结果证实了美国的全国数据，即肥胖在这一人群中是一个公共卫生问题，而且内城区肥胖的非裔美国人认为自己超重并且正在尝试减肥，尤其是随着肥胖程度增加时。似乎吸烟并未被用作一种减肥策略，而且肥胖者作为一个群体正在接受一些关于低脂饮食的医学建议。这些信息对于设计具有文化敏感性的体重控制项目至关重要。
