The effect of income and occupation on body mass index among women in the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Surveys (1983-2002)

M. Arantxa Colchero, Benjamin Caballero and David Bishai ()

Social Science & Medicine, 2008, vol. 66, issue 9, 1967-1978

Abstract: We assessed the effects of changes in income and occupational activities on changes in body weight among 2952 non-pregnant women enrolled in the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Surveys between 1983 and 2002. On average, body mass index (BMI) among women occupied in low activities was 0.29Â kg/m2 (standard error 0.11) larger compared to women occupied in heavy activities. BMI among women involved in medium activities was on average 0.12Â kg/m2 (standard error 0.05) larger compared to women occupied in heavy activities. A one-unit increase in log household income in the previous survey was associated with a small and positive change in BMI of 0.006Â kg/m2 (standard error 0.02) but the effect was not significant. The trend of increasing body mass was higher in the late 1980s than during the 1990s. These period effects were stronger for the women who were younger at baseline and for women with low or medium activity levels. Our analysis suggests a trend in the environment over the last 20 years that has increased the susceptibility of Filipino women to larger body mass.

Keywords: Cebu; Philippines; Body; mass; index; (BMI); Income; Occupation; Panel; methods; Women; Activity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(08)00025-7
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:66:y:2008:i:9:p:1967-1978

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().