Associations between wealth and weight status in Filipinos from birth to early adulthood

Abstract

Wealth predicts BMI and is especially relevant in the context of the nutrition transition in low‐and middle‐income countries.Sex‐stratified, longitudinal, random effects models were used to estimate how wealth (represented by factor scores of household assets) relates to BMI at birth, 2, 8.5, 11.5, 15.6, 18.7, and 21.5y in the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (n=1925). We performed a factor analysis on assets reported in 2005 using a varimax orthogonal rotation. Three factors with eigenvalues >;1.5 were retained: F1 represents urban assets (e.g. car, appliances); F2 modernization (TV, videogames); F3 rural assets (animals, land). The 2005 factor structure was used to score prior years.In males, higher F1 and F2 scores were associated with significantly higher BMI (β=0.16, p<0.001; β=0.044, p<0.001, respectively). A higher F3 score was associated with lower BMI (β= −0.08, p<0.001). In females, higher F1 and F2 scores were associated with lower BMI (β= −0.034, p=0.018; β= −0.018, p=0.023, respectively). However, in cross‐sectional analyses higher F1 score was associated with higher BMI at 8.5 and 11.5y (p<0.01). F3 scores were unrelated to BMI.These sex differences in how wealth relates to BMI suggest that as wealth increases, females may be more susceptible to Western body image messages and exhibit an inverse relationship of wealth and BMI starting around menarche.Funding Source: Pfizer NutritionGrant Funding Source: Pfizer Nutrition