How Income Inequality and Race/Ethnicity Drive Obesity in U.S. Adults: 1999-2016.

Hossein Zare,Roland J. Thorpe,Mojgan Azadi,Danielle R. Gilmore,Ciana Creighton,Darrell J. Gaskin

doi:10.3390/healthcare9111442

Abstract

Obesity is a major public health problem both globally and within the U.S. It varies by multiple factors, including but not limited to income and sex. After controlling for potential covariates, there is little evidence to determine the association between income and obesity and how obesity may be moderated by sex and family income. We examined the association between income and obesity in U.S. adults aged 20 years and older, and tested whether this relationship differs by race or ethnicity groups. For this analysis, we used data from the 1999–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES). Obesity was determined using Body Mass Index ≥ 30 kg/m2; the Gini coefficient (GC) was calculated to measure income inequality using the Poverty Income Ratio (PIR). We categorized the PIR into five quintiles to examine the relationship between income inequality and obesity. For the first set of analyses, we used a modified Poisson regression in a sample of 36,665 adults, with an almost equal number of men and women (women’s ratio was 50.6%), including 17,303 white non-Hispanics (WNH), 7475 black non-Hispanics (BNHs), and 6281 Mexican Americans. The models included age, racial/ethnic groups, marital status, education, health behaviors (smoking and drinking status and physical activities), health insurance coverage, self-reported health, and household structure (live alone and size of household). Adjusting for potential confounders, our findings showed that the association between PIR and obesity was positive and significant more frequently among WNH and BNH in middle and top PIR quintiles than among lower-PIR quintiles; this association was not significant in Mexican Americans (MAs). Results of GC in obese women showed that in comparison with WNHs (GC: 0.34, S.E.: 0.002), BNHs (GC: 0.38, S.E.: 0.004) and MAs (GC: 0.41, S.E.: 0.006) experienced higher income inequality, and that BNH obese men experienced the highest income inequality (GC: 0.45, S.E.: 0.011). The association between PIR and obesity was significant among WNHs and BNHs men in the 3rd, 4th and 5th PIR quintiles. The same association was not found for women. In treating obesity, policymakers should consider not only race/ethnicity and sex, but also strategies to reduce inequality in income.

Highlights

Is there anything wrong with people getting rich if no one else is harmed in the process? Poverty is concerning, but what is the problem if some people make more money than others? why should we be worried about income distribution and income inequality? These are the main questions among mainstream economists; some believe that people should worry less about inequality [1]
Our findings showed that higher income in white non-Hispanics (WNH) and black non-Hispanics (BNHs) men was positively associated with a higher prevalence of obesity, but not in Mexican Americans (MAs) men
There is a positive association between Poverty Income Ratio (PIR) and obesity for white NH and black NH

Summary

Introduction

Is there anything wrong with people getting rich if no one else is harmed in the process? Poverty is concerning, but what is the problem if some people make more money than others? why should we be worried about income distribution and income inequality? These are the main questions among mainstream economists; some believe that people should worry less about inequality [1].Income inequality has sharply increased in recent years. These are the main questions among mainstream economists; some believe that people should worry less about inequality [1]. Angus Deaton—Nobel Prize winner for economics in 2015—has an excellent response to this question He believes that half of the money spent in the healthcare system in the U.S has nothing to do with population health. When inequality is large enough, wealthy people live in a very different society from everyone else. It is one of the main reasons why the gap between the richest and poorest threatens communities and public health. The combination of low-income communities, minority groups, and high poverty creates an area with the most vulnerable populations; this is the area in which we can expect to find very high adverse health outcomes, including obesity

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