The Associations of Dispositional Optimism with Multiple Measures of Obesity among African Americans: The Jackson Heart Study

Obinna Ivoke^1, , Azad R. Bhuiyan¹, Daniel Sarpong², Rodolfo Vargas³, Mario Azevedo⁴ and Mario Sims⁵

¹Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS

²Department of General Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut

³Office of Health Data and Research, Mississippi State Department of Health, Jackson, MS

⁴College of Liberal Arts, Jackson State University, Jackson MS

⁵Department of Social Medicine, Population and Public Health, University of California, Riverside, CA

Cite this paper

Obinna Ivoke, Azad R. Bhuiyan, Daniel Sarpong, Rodolfo Vargas, Mario Azevedo and Mario Sims. The Associations of Dispositional Optimism with Multiple Measures of Obesity among African Americans: The Jackson Heart Study. American Journal of Public Health Research. 2023; 11(6):174-182. doi: 10.12691/AJPHR-11-6-1

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the cross-sectional associations of dispositional optimism (DO) with multiple measures of adiposity among African Americans (AA). Methods: Using the Jackson Heart Study (JHS) data, we analyzed baseline data (2000-2004) for 4624 African-American adults. Multivariable Poisson regression analysis with robust standard error was used to estimate the prevalence ratios (PRs; 95% confidence intervals-CI) of DO by adiposity measures, adjusting for demographics, socioeconomic status (SES), behavioral factors and depressive symptoms. Results: After full adjustment, high (vs. low) optimism was significantly associated with a 5% reduced prevalence of WHtR ≥ 0.05 (PR=0.95; 95% CI = 0.91, 0.99; P = .008) in the total sample. High (vs. low) DO was also protective of WC ≥ 102 cm (male), ≥ 88cm (female) after adjusting for demographics, SES and behavioral risk factors (PR= 0.94; 95% CI = 0.89, 0.99; P = .028). The association between high (vs. low) optimism and BMI ≥30 kg/m² was significant (PR= 0.93; 95% CI = 0.87, 0.99; P = .034) after adjustment for demographic factors. Conclusion: High levels of DO could be protective against high abdominal adiposity phenotype among AA.

Keywords

cardiovascular disease, obesity measures, dispositional optimism, jackson heart study

Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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