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. 2022 Feb;30(2):491-502.
doi: 10.1002/oby.23336.

Social determinants of health and obesity: Findings from a national study of US adults

Zulqarnain Javed  1 , Javier Valero-Elizondo  1   2   3 , Muhammad Haisum Maqsood  4 , Shiwani Mahajan  5 , Mohamad B Taha  2 , Kershaw V Patel  2 , Garima Sharma  6 , Kobina Hagan  1 , Michael J Blaha  6 , Ron Blankstein  7 , Elias Mossialos  8 , Salim S Virani  9   10   11 , Miguel Cainzos-Achirica  1   2   3 , Khurram Nasir  1   2   3
Affiliations

Social determinants of health and obesity: Findings from a national study of US adults

Zulqarnain Javed et al. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2022 Feb.

Abstract

Objective: This study examined the association between social determinants of health (SDOH) burden and overweight/obesity in a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States.

Methods: Data for 161,795 adults aged ≥18 years from the 2013 to 2017 National Health Interview Survey were used. A total of 38 SDOH were aggregated to create a cumulative SDOH score, which was divided into quartiles (Q1-Q4) to denote levels of SDOH burden. Prevalence of overweight and obesity was examined across SDOH quartiles in the total population and by age, sex, and race/ethnicity. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to analyze the association between SDOH quartiles and overweight/obesity, adjusting for relevant covariates.

Results: There was a graded increase in obesity prevalence with increasing SDOH burden. At nearly each quartile, overweight and obesity rates were higher for middle-aged and non-Hispanic Black adults compared with their counterparts; additional differences were observed by sex. In fully adjusted models, SDOH-Q4 was associated with 15%, 50%, and 70% higher relative prevalence of overweight, obesity class 1 and 2, and obesity class 3, respectively, relative to SDOH-Q1.

Conclusions: Cumulative social disadvantage, denoted by higher SDOH burden, was associated with increased odds of obesity, independent of clinical and demographic factors.

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References

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