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Racial and Ethnic Differences in Dietary Intake, Physical Activity, and Body Mass Index (BMI) Among Cancer Survivors: 2005 and 2010 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS)

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Abstract

Introduction

This paper reports racial/ethnic differences in mean dietary and alcohol intake, physical activity, and body mass index (BMI) among cancer survivors and examines adherence to the American Cancer Society and the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Methods

Data are from the cross-sectional 2005 and 2010 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS). The total sample of cancer survivors (N = 3367) included non-Hispanic Whites (NHW; N = 2698), non-Hispanic Blacks (NHBs; N = 379), and Hispanics (N = 290). We compared mean reported dietary intake, moderate/vigorous physical activity, and BMI among racial/ethnic groups. Predicted marginals and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to compare prevalence of non-adherence with recommendations among groups.

Results

Among the three racial/ethnic groups, Hispanics had the highest mean intake of vegetables, fiber, and calcium (p = 0.0003; p < 0.0001; p = 0.001). In the logistic regression model adjusting for sociodemographic covariates, smoking and BMI, Hispanics had lower non-adherence to fiber guidelines (OR = 0.38; CI = 0.24–0.58) than NHWs. NHBs had significantly higher non-adherence to vegetable guidelines (OR = 1.63; CI = 1.07–2.47). NHBs and Hispanics had lower non-adherence with alcohol guidelines than NHWs (OR = 0.35 and 0.38; CI = 0.18–0.69 and 0.19–0.76, respectively). NHBs and Hispanics were more likely to be overweight/obese (OR = 1.66 and 1.57; CI = 1.24–2.23 and CI = 1.11–2.21, respectively).

Conclusions

There are racial/ethnic differences in certain health behaviors of cancer survivors. However, non-adherence to guidelines is high in all three racial/ethnic groups. Achieving the recommended guidelines for diet, physical activity, and a healthy BMI is a concern for all cancer survivors, indicating the need for intervention among this growing group of at-risk individuals.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health Behaviors Research Branch, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute/NIH/DHHS, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA

    Doratha A. Byrd, Tanya Agurs-Collins & David Berrigan

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, 1518 Clifton Road, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA

    Doratha A. Byrd

  3. Information Management Services, Inc., 3901 Calverton Blvd, Calverton, MD, 20705, USA

    Richard Lee

  4. Risk Factor Assessment Branch, Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute/NIH/DHHS, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, USA

    Frances E. Thompson

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  1. Doratha A. Byrd
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Correspondence to Doratha A. Byrd.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors, Doratha Byrd, Tanya Agurs-Collins, David Berrigan, Richard Lee, and Frances Thompson, declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

This article does not contain studies with human participants or animals that were performed by the authors.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was not required to conduct secondary data analysis of NHIS survey data.

Additional information

Doratha Byrd was at the National Cancer Institute during the work on this manuscript but is now with the Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health.

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Byrd, D.A., Agurs-Collins, T., Berrigan, D. et al. Racial and Ethnic Differences in Dietary Intake, Physical Activity, and Body Mass Index (BMI) Among Cancer Survivors: 2005 and 2010 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS). J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities 4, 1138–1146 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-016-0319-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-016-0319-8

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