Economic and social factors associated with body mass index and obesity in the Spanish population aged 20–64 years

Abstract

Many studies have shown how greatly body mass index (BMI) and obesity vary according to different socio-economic factors. The objective of this study is to study these variations in a representative sample of the adult population in a Mediterranean area. The data were taken from the 1987 Spanish National Health Survey carried out in a representative sample of the non-institutionalized population older than 1 year of age. Multivariate statistical techniques are used to analyse the relation between BMI and obesity and different social and economic factors in a sample of 21,838 men and women between 20 and 64 years of age. BMI and obesity vary directly with age in both men and women. An inverse relation is seen with regard to the levels of education: the lower the educational level, the higher the mean BMI and the more frequently obesity is found. This association is stronger in women and shows a significant dose-response relation. The consistency of the resuits obtained with those observed in other studies carried out In countries with very different socio-cultural patterns and lifestyles than Spain suggests that these variations in BMI and obesity are independent of external factors.