The mediation role of Sleep in the association Between Acculturation and Obesity in Hispanic Women aged 19-50 years

As Hispanics immigrants to the U.S. become acculturated, they face adverse health outcomes such as obesity. The prevalence of obesity is high in US Hispanic women. The association of acculturation with obesity has not been well investigated. This study's objective was to examine whether the association between acculturation and obesity was mediated by sleep in Hispanic women. Data from 2,415 Hispanic women (19-50 years) from the National Health and Nutrition Exam Surveys (NHANES) 2005-2016 were analyzed. Participants were categorized into overweight/obese or non-obese. Acculturation was measured by language spoken at home and country of birth. Sleep was measured by self-reported hours per night. Multi-variable adjusted logistic structural equation model was used for mediation analyses. All analyses were adjusted for sampling weights to account for the complex sampling design. Approximately, 72% of Hispanic women were overweight/obese. Overall, neither language spoken at home nor country of birth was not associated with overweight/obesity. However, associations varied by survey cycles. There was significance between language at home and overweight/obesity in NHANES 2009 and 2010 cycle. Country of birth was associated with increased odds of overweight/obesity in NHANES 2007 and 2008, 2009 and 2010, and 2015 and 2016. Sleep duration did not mediate the association between language spoken at home and country of birth with overweight/obesity in the overall population and subpopulations by cycle. Our findings suggested that country of birth and language acculturation might impact overweight/obesity in Hispanic women. Sleep duration did not mediate the associations in this population.