| Literature DB >> 27893853 |
Yan Yu1,2.
Abstract
Both obesity (body mass index ≥ 30) and educational attainment have increased dramatically in the United States since the 1970s. This study analyzed the influences of educational inequalities in obesity and population improvements in education on national obesity trends between 1970 and 2010. For non-Hispanic white and black males and females aged 25-74 years, educational differences in the probability of being obese were estimated from the 1971-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, and population distributions of age and educational groups, from the 1970 Census and 2010 American Community Survey. In the total population, obesity increased from 15.7% to 38.8%, and there were increases in the greater obese probabilities of non-college graduates relative to four-year college graduates. The increase in obesity would have been lower by 10% (2.2 percentage points) if educational inequalities in obesity had stayed at their 1970 values and lower by one third (7.9 points) if obesity inequalities had been eliminated. Obesity inequalities were larger for females than males and for whites than blacks, and obesity did not differ by education among black males. As a result, the impact of obesity inequalities on the obesity trend was largest among white females (a 47% reduction in the obesity increase if obesity inequalities had been eliminated), and virtually zero among black males. On the other hand, without educational improvements, the obesity increase would have been 9% more in the total population, 23% more among white females and not different in the other three subpopulations. Results indicate that obesity inequalities made sizable contributions to the obesity trends, and the obesity reductions associated with educational improvements were more limited.Entities:
Mesh:
Year: 2016 PMID: 27893853 PMCID: PMC5125692 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0167193
Source DB: PubMed Journal: PLoS One ISSN: 1932-6203 Impact factor: 3.240
Sample size (unweighted N) and obesity risk (% body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m2), by educational attainment, U.S. non-Hispanic whites and blacks, aged 25–74.
| NHANES I 1971–1974 | NHANES II 1976–1980 | NHANES III 1988–1994 | Continuous NHANES | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 2001–2002 | 2003–2004 | 2005–2006 | 2007–2008 | 2009–2010 | 2011–2012 | ||||||||||||||
| N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | N | % | |
| Total | 5191 | 16.7 | 4485 | 16.5 | 2651 | 24.4 | 657 | 32.6 | 856 | 33.1 | 836 | 32.1 | 775 | 35.9 | 979 | 33.8 | 1108 | 34.9 | 707 | 34.8 |
| <hs | 2117 | 23.6 | 1668 | 23.5 | 584 | 31.1 | 104 | 39.2 | 111 | 45.7 | 105 | 38.3 | 84 | 40.6 | 166 | 48.1 | 187 | 40.5 | 89 | 41.2 |
| hs | 2018 | 15.1 | 1732 | 15.1 | 1060 | 27.7 | 199 | 39.0 | 226 | 33.3 | 248 | 33.9 | 192 | 41.3 | 264 | 36.9 | 264 | 41.1 | 130 | 45.4 |
| somcol | 556 | 9.2 | 589 | 13.1 | 506 | 22.9 | 185 | 33.6 | 270 | 36.1 | 273 | 33.9 | 254 | 41.2 | 306 | 37.0 | 334 | 38.6 | 252 | 36.1 |
| ≥4-yr col | 500 | 7.7 | 496 | 8.6 | 501 | 14.6 | 169 | 21.2 | 249 | 25.0 | 210 | 25.6 | 245 | 25.3 | 243 | 22.2 | 323 | 25.6 | 236 | 27.9 |
| Total | 3494 | 12.5 | 4078 | 12.7 | 2327 | 21.4 | 710 | 27.7 | 898 | 30.5 | 865 | 32.4 | 843 | 34.4 | 1007 | 34.8 | 1058 | 38.1 | 738 | 35.1 |
| <hs | 1671 | 13.7 | 1545 | 14.3 | 560 | 27.3 | 127 | 29.9 | 129 | 28.7 | 122 | 27.5 | 104 | 37.1 | 196 | 39.3 | 162 | 34.4 | 121 | 36.4 |
| hs | 987 | 15.1 | 1301 | 15.2 | 738 | 22.7 | 192 | 32.6 | 229 | 32.4 | 244 | 34.0 | 238 | 40.6 | 281 | 33.3 | 265 | 39.8 | 156 | 37.8 |
| somcol | 345 | 8.4 | 508 | 12.8 | 418 | 20.9 | 177 | 28.4 | 229 | 30.6 | 270 | 37.3 | 246 | 35.8 | 267 | 39.9 | 318 | 48.0 | 230 | 40.5 |
| ≥4-yr col | 491 | 8.1 | 724 | 6.9 | 611 | 16.5 | 214 | 21.5 | 311 | 29.5 | 229 | 27.2 | 255 | 26.8 | 263 | 29.2 | 313 | 28.8 | 231 | 29.0 |
| Total | 1194 | 31.4 | 610 | 32.2 | 2028 | 39.2 | 355 | 50.7 | 362 | 49.7 | 354 | 56.6 | 433 | 53.5 | 497 | 50.6 | 437 | 60.2 | 572 | 61.0 |
| <hs | 816 | 38.2 | 382 | 40.3 | 679 | 45.5 | 134 | 45.8 | 120 | 52.8 | 103 | 56.9 | 104 | 56.0 | 142 | 52.4 | 106 | 58.9 | 99 | 66.0 |
| hs | 268 | 21.9 | 148 | 25.5 | 776 | 39.2 | 86 | 55.1 | 83 | 44.8 | 96 | 58.1 | 90 | 50.6 | 112 | 52.7 | 109 | 54.5 | 143 | 57.7 |
| somcol | 72 | 25.5 | 43 | 18.2 | 357 | 36.0 | 94 | 56.2 | 109 | 55.8 | 105 | 58.7 | 159 | 57.5 | 152 | 54.0 | 160 | 64.2 | 201 | 67.9 |
| ≥4-yr col | 38 | 12.4 | 37 | 21.3 | 216 | 29.2 | 41 | 43.6 | 50 | 38.2 | 50 | 48.9 | 80 | 45.6 | 91 | 40.4 | 62 | 62.6 | 129 | 51.0 |
| Total | 695 | 18.2 | 508 | 16.0 | 1698 | 21.8 | 316 | 28.9 | 363 | 27.4 | 348 | 35.5 | 422 | 37.5 | 475 | 38.6 | 454 | 41.5 | 535 | 37.9 |
| <hs | 527 | 15.0 | 331 | 16.6 | 664 | 21.4 | 139 | 34.0 | 131 | 21.4 | 100 | 28.0 | 115 | 37.0 | 146 | 26.0 | 106 | 37.5 | 128 | 34.9 |
| hs | 106 | 22.8 | 100 | 19.0 | 580 | 21.1 | 63 | 28.3 | 91 | 27.0 | 86 | 34.9 | 118 | 40.1 | 123 | 46.5 | 143 | 41.9 | 155 | 37.0 |
| somcol | 43 | 31.9 | 47 | 9.7 | 299 | 22.5 | 74 | 23.7 | 87 | 35.2 | 109 | 39.2 | 123 | 35.6 | 134 | 38.8 | 137 | 46.5 | 153 | 36.5 |
| ≥4-yr col | 19 | 13.1 | 30 | 13.6 | 155 | 24.3 | 40 | 23.8 | 54 | 27.0 | 53 | 42.4 | 66 | 37.2 | 72 | 45.1 | 68 | 37.1 | 99 | 44.9 |
1less than high school
2high school degree
3some college
4at least four-year college
Estimates (standard errors) from linear probability models of obesity (body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m2), U.S. non-Hispanic whites and blacks, aged 25–74 years, 1971–2012 NHANES.
| Parameters | Whites & blacks | White female | White male | Black female | Black male | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intercept | 0.1216 | 0.0960 | 0.0945 | 0.1368 | 0.2175 | |
| (0.0094) | (0.0132) | (0.0137) | (0.0382) | (0.0304) | ||
| Blacks (vs. whites) | 0.0942 | — | — | — | — | |
| (0.0071) | ||||||
| Male (vs. female) | -0.0287 | — | — | — | — | |
| (0.0046) | ||||||
| Age in years ( | ||||||
| 0.0013 | 0.0018 | 0.0009 | 0.0016 | 0.0007 | ||
| (0.0002) | (0.0002) | (0.0002) | (0.0006) | (0.0005) | ||
| -0.0001 | -0.0001 | -0.0001 | -0.0001 | -0.0000 | ||
| (0.0000) | (0.0000) | (0.0000) | (0.0000) | (0.0000) | ||
| Year of survey ( | ||||||
| 0.0020 | 0.0045 | 0.0019 | 0.0099 | -0.0025 | ||
| (0.0010) | (0.0005) | (0.0013) | (0.0012) | (0.0021) | ||
| 0.0001 | — | 0.0001 | — | 0.0002 | ||
| (0.0000) | (0.0000) | (0.0000) | ||||
| Education (vs. at least 4-year college) | ||||||
| < high school (hs) | 0.0826 | 0.1261 | 0.0504 | 0.2543 | -0.0432 | |
| (0.0110) | (0.0191) | (0.0144) | (0.0395) | (0.0228) | ||
| hs | 0.0540 | 0.0539 | 0.0697 | 0.1143 | -0.0050 | |
| (0.0108) | (0.0152) | (0.0145) | (0.0399) | (0.0201) | ||
| Some college (somcol) | 0.0130 | 0.0113 | 0.0199 | 0.0664 | 0.0016 | |
| (0.0135) | (0.0178) | (0.0183) | (0.0603) | (0.0230) | ||
| Interaction (X) terms | ||||||
| 0.0007 | 0.0010 | 0.0007 | -0.0048 | — | ||
| (0.0005) | (0.0009) | (0.0008) | (0.0014) | |||
| 0.0014 | 0.0022 | 0.0003 | -0.0012 | — | ||
| (0.0005) | (0.0007) | (0.0007) | (0.0015) | |||
| 0.0027 | 0.0030 | 0.0023 | 0.0015 | — | ||
| (0.0005) | (0.0007) | (0.0008) | (0.0020) | |||
*p<0.05
Fig 1Trends in obesity (body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m2), by educational attainment, U.S. non-Hispanic blacks and whites, aged 50 years, 1971–2012 NHANES
Fig 2Actual vs. hypothetical obesity level (body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m2), 1970 and 2010, US non-Hispanic whites and blacks, aged 25–74, 1971–2012 NHANES
Notes: Numbers at the bottom are the central values of obesity levels and error bars, 95% CIs; the last two hypothetical scenarios used the actual values for the 2010 obesity risk of four-year college graduates.