Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-24hb2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T14:06:48.563Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

INCOME INEQUALITY AND OBESITY PREVALENCE AMONG OECD COUNTRIES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

DEJUN SU
Affiliation:
University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg, TX, USA
OMAR A. ESQUEDA
Affiliation:
University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg, TX, USA
LIFENG LI
Affiliation:
University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg, TX, USA
JOSÉ A. PAGÁN
Affiliation:
University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX, USA

Summary

Using recent pooled data from the World Health Organization Global Infobase and the World Factbook compiled by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States, this study assesses the relation between income inequality and obesity prevalence among 31 OECD countries through a series of bivariate and multivariate linear regressions. The United States and Mexico well lead OECD countries in both obesity prevalence and income inequality. A sensitivity analysis suggests that the inclusion or exclusion of these two extreme cases can fundamentally change the findings. When the two countries are included, the results reveal a positive correlation between income inequality and obesity prevalence. This correlation is more salient among females than among males. Income inequality alone is associated with 16% and 35% of the variations in male and female obesity rates, respectively, across OECD countries in 2010. Higher levels of income inequality in the 2005–2010 period were associated with a more rapid increase in obesity prevalence from 2002 to 2010. These associations, however, virtually disappear when the US and Mexico have been excluded from the analysis. Findings from this study underscore the importance of assessing the impact of extreme cases on the relation between income inequality and health outcomes. The potential pathways from income inequality to the alarmingly high rates of obesity in the cases of the US and Mexico warrant further research.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, K. F., Schatzkin, A., Harris, T. B., Kipnis, V., Mouw, T., Ballard-Barbash, R. et al. (2006) Overweight, obesity, and mortality in a large prospective cohort of persons 50 to 71 years old. New England Journal of Medicine 355, 763778.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beckfield, J. (2004) Does income inequality harm health? New cross-national evidence. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 45, 231245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (2010) The World Factbook. URL: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/xx.html (accessed December 2010).Google Scholar
Chang, V. W. & Christakis, N. A. (2005) Income inequality and weight status in US metropolitan areas. Social Science & Medicine 61, 8396.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corrada, M. M., Kawas, C. H., Mozaffar, F. & Paganini-Hill, A. (2006) Association of body mass index and weight change with all-cause mortality in the elderly. American Journal of Epidemiology 163, 938949[PubMed: 16641311].CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Drewnowski, A. & Darmon, N. (2005) The economics of obesity: dietary energy density and energy cost. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 82(1), 265273S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Due, P., Damsgaard, M. T., Rasmussen, M., Holstein, B. E., Wardle, J., Merlo, J. et al. (2009) Socioeconomic position, macroeconomic environment and overweight among adolescents in 35 countries. International Journal of Obesity 33(10), 10841093.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Finkelstein, E. A., Ruhm, C. J. & Kosa, K. M. (2004) Economic causes and consequences of obesity. Annual Review of Public Health 26(1), 239257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flegal, K. M., Graubard, B. I., Williamson, D. F. & Gail, M. H. (2005) Excess deaths associated with underweight, overweight, and obesity. Journal of the American Medical Association 293, 18611867.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goel, R. (2006) Obesity: an economic and financial perspective. Journal of Economics and Finance 30(3), 317324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon-Larsen, P., Nelson, M. C., Page, P. & Popkin, B. M. (2006) Inequality in the built environment underlies key health disparities in physical activity and obesity. Pediatrics 117, 417424.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kahn, R. S., Wise, P. H., Kennedy, B. P. & Kawachi, I. (2000) State income inequality, household income, and maternal mental and physical health: cross sectional national survey. British Medical Journal 321, 13111315.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaplan, G. A., Pamuk, E. R., Lynch, J. W., Cohen, R. D. & Balfour, J. L. (1996) Inequality in income and mortality in the United States: analysis of mortality and potential pathways. British Medical Journal 312, 9991003.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kawachi, I., Kennedy, B. P., Lochner, K. & Prothrow-Stith, D. (1997) Social capital, income inequality, and mortality. American Journal of Public Health 87, 14911498.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennen, E. M., Davis, T. C., Huang, J., Yu, H., Carden, D., Bass, R. et al. (2005) Tipping the scales: the effect of literacy on obese patients' knowledge and readiness to lose weight. Southern Medical Journal 98(1), 1518.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lopez, R. P. (2007) Neighborhood risk factors for obesity. Obesity (Silver Spring) 15, 21112119.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lynch, J. W. & Kaplan, G. A. (1997) Understanding how inequality in the distribution of income affects health. Journal of Health Psychology 2, 297314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lynch, J. W., Smith, G. D., Hillemeier, M., Shaw, M., Raghunathan, T. & Kaplan, G. (2001) Income inequality, the psychosocial environment, and health, comparisons of wealthy nations. Lancet 358, 194200.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McLaren, L. (2007) Socioeconomic status and obesity. Epidemiologic Reviews 29(1), 2948.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marmot, M. (2002) The influence of income on health: views of an epidemiologist. Health Affairs (Millwood) 21, 3146.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marmot, M. (2004) Commentary: risk factors or social causes? International Journal of Epidemiology 33, 297298.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marmot, M. & Wilkinson, R. G. (2001) Psychosocial and material pathways in the relation between income and health: a response to Lynch et al. British Medical Journal 322, 12331236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mobley, L. R., Root, E. D., Finkelstein, E. A., Khavjou, O., Farris, R. P. & Will, J. C. (2006) Environment, obesity, and cardiovascular disease risk in low-income women. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 30, 327332.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Monteiro, C. A., Conde, W. L. & Popkin, B. M. (2001) Independent effects of income and education on the risk of obesity in the Brazilian adult population. Journal of Nutrition 131(3), 881886S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Philipson, T. J. & Posner, R. A. (1999) The Long-Run Growth in Obesity as a Function of Technological Change. Working Paper No. 9912. Harris School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pickett, K. E., Kelly, S., Brunner, E., Lobstein, T. & Wilkinson, R. G. (2005) Wider income gaps, wider waistbands? An ecological study of obesity and income inequality. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 59, 670674.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rodgers, G. B. (2002) Income and inequality as determinants of mortality: an international cross-section analysis. International Journal of Epidemiology 31, 533538.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, G. D. (1996) Income inequality and mortality: why are they related? British Medical Journal 312, 987988.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Strong, K. & Bonita, R. (2003) The SuRF Report 1. Surveillance of Risk Factors Related to Noncommunicable Diseases, Current Status of Global Data. World Health Organization, Geneva.Google Scholar
Stunkard, A. J. (2007) Socioeconomic Status and Obesity. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Su, D. (2005) Body mass index and old-age survival: a comparative study between the Union Army Records and the NHANES-I Epidemiological Follow-Up Sample. American Journal of Human Biology 17, 341354.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Subramanian, S. V., Blakely, T. & Kawachi, I. (2003) Income inequality as a public health concern, where do we stand? Commentary on “Is exposure to income inequality a public health concern?” Health Services Research 38, 153167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Subramanian, S. V. & Kawachi, I. (2004) Income inequality and health: what have we learned so far? Epidemiologic Reviews 26, 7891.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wagstaff, A. & Van Doorslaer, E. (2000) Income inequality and health: what does the literature tell us? Annual Review of Public Health 21, 543567.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization (2010) WHO Global Infobase. URL: https://apps.who.int/infobase/Comparisons.aspx (accessed December 2010).Google Scholar
Wilkinson, R. G. (1992) Income distribution and life expectancy. British Medical Journal 304, 165168.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilkinson, R. G. (2005) The Impact of Inequality: How to Make Sick Societies Healthier New Press, New York.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, R. G. & Pickett, K. E. (2006) Income inequality and population health: a review and explanation of the evidence. Social Science & Medicine 62, 17681784.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yach, D., Stuckler, D. & Brownell, K. D. (2006) Epidemiologic and economic consequences of the global epidemics of obesity and diabetes. Nature Medicine 12, 6266.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhang, Q. & Wang, Y. (2004) Socioeconomic inequality of obesity in the United States: do gender, age, and ethnicity matter? Social Science & Medicine 58(6), 11711180.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed