Abstract
The objective of the present study was to evaluate the association between social position and anthropometric status in women and men Brazilian adult. This was a cross-sectional study that used baseline data collected from 2008 to 2010 for the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil, in Portuguese), in the six major Brazilian state capital cities. A total of 15,105 active and retired civil servants aged from 35 to 74 years. Two latent variables were defined by latent class analysis, social position and anthropometric status. Both constructs and the analyses were separately evaluated by sex. Associations were assessed using multivariate logistic regression analysis with adjustment for age, self-reported skin color/race, and marital status. Around 44% of the women and 26% of the men were classified as overweight or obese. Social position tended to be lower in women (43.2%) and higher among men (40.4%). Heavier women were more likely to be black and brown-skinned, whereas slimmer women were more likely to be white. After adjustment, women's weight increased as social position decreased (OR = 1.52; 95%CI: 1.36-1.70), whereas in men weight decreased as social position decreased (OR = 0.87; 95%CI: 0.76-0.99). Social position affected the anthropometric status of women and men differently, with body patterns also being affected by ethnicity/skin color, showing the potentiality of taking the intersectional perspective when investigating the possible social determinants of the phenomenon.
Highlights
In recent decades, the prevalence of excess weight, including overweight and obesity, has increased rapidly worldwide, representing the fastest growing health issue among the risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases [1,2]
Social position affected the anthropometric status of women and men differently, with body patterns being affected by ethnicity/skin color, showing the potentiality of taking the intersectional perspective when investigating the possible social determinants of the phenomenon
Two latent variables were defined by latent class analysis (LCA): social position, addressing reported education level, income, social class, and intergenerational social mobility, and anthropometric status, with the indicators being body mass index (BMI), abdominal obesity and waist-to-hip ratio
Summary
The prevalence of excess weight, including overweight and obesity, has increased rapidly worldwide, representing the fastest growing health issue among the risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases [1,2]. In Brazil, its prevalence has been increasing since 1974 4, and it rose from 16% in 1974, to 54% in 2017 5, with regional differences. Unfavorable socioeconomic conditions in childhood contribute to the presence of obesity in the future, either at preschool age [10,11], adolescence [12,13,14] or adult life 10, with notable differences between the sexes [13,15,16] explained by social position. Low maternal education is associated with unfavorable health conditions related to overweight 17
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