Comparison of BMI and Physical Activity Between Old Order Amish Children and Non-Amish Children
Minority Diabetes Reports Thursday, March 28th, 2013Diabetes Care: October 23, 2012
OBJECTIVE The Old Order Amish (OOA) is a conservative Christian sect of European origin living in Pennsylvania. Diabetes is rare in adult OOA despite a mean BMI rivaling that in the general U.S. non-Hispanic white population. The current study examines childhood factors that may contribute to the low prevalence of diabetes in the OOA by comparing OOA children aged 8–19 years with National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data and children from Maryland’s Eastern Shore (ES), a nearby, non-Amish, rural community. We hypothesized that pediatric overweight is less common in OOA children, that physical activity (PA) and BMI are inversely correlated, and that OOA children are more physically active than ES children. Read more
