Association between weight perception and socioeconomic status among adults in the Seychelles - PubMed (original) (raw)

Association between weight perception and socioeconomic status among adults in the Seychelles

Heba Alwan et al. BMC Public Health. 2010.

Abstract

Background: Few studies have examined the association between weight perception and socioeconomic status (SES) in sub-Saharan Africa, and none made this association based on education, occupation and income simultaneously.

Methods: Based on a population-based survey (n = 1255) in the Seychelles, weight and height were measured and self-perception of one's own body weight, education, occupation, and income were assessed by a questionnaire. Individuals were considered to have appropriate weight perception when their self-perceived weight matched their actual body weight.

Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 35% and 28%, respectively. Multivariate analysis among overweight/obese persons showed that appropriate weight perception was directly associated with actual weight, education, occupation and income, and that it was more frequent among women than among men. In a model using all three SES indicators together, only education (OR = 2.5; 95% CI: 1.3-4.8) and occupation (OR = 2.3; 95% CI: 1.2-4.5) were independently associated with appropriate perception of being overweight. The OR reached 6.9 [95% CI: 3.4-14.1] when comparing the highest vs. lowest categories of SES based on a score including all SES indicators and 6.1 [95% CI: 3.0-12.1] for a score based on education and occupation.

Conclusions: Appropriately perceiving one's weight as too high was associated with different SES indicators, female sex and being actually overweight. These findings suggest means and targets for clinical and population-based interventions for weight control. Further studies should examine whether these differences in weight perception underlie differences in cognitive skills, healthy weight norms, or body size ideals.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Level of agreement between the 'high' categories of the three socioeconomic status (SES) indicators. * 32% of all participants belonged to the 'high' SES group based on any of the three SES indicators. ** The values in parentheses represent the proportion of individuals falling in the highest category of each SES indicator.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Self-perceived body weight according to sex, actual weight status, and education. L: low, I: intermediate, H: high. Panel A: men, Panel B: women.

Figure 3

Figure 3

Self-perceived body weight according to sex, actual weight status, and occupation. L: low, I: intermediate, H: high. Panel A: men, Panel B: women.

Figure 4

Figure 4

Self-perceived body weight according to sex, actual weight status, and income. L: low, I: intermediate, H: high. Panel A: men, Panel B: women.

Figure 5

Figure 5

Percentage of overweight and obese individuals who perceived their weight as too high according to a score based on all three socioeconomic status (SES) indicators and sex. * Figures shown within bars are the proportions of obese persons as a percent of all persons with overweight or obesity within each sex and SES strata.

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