Prevalence and Socioeconomic Correlates of Adult Obesity in Europe: The Feel4Diabetes Study

Dimitrios V. Diamantis, Kalliopi Karatzi, Paris Kantaras, Stavros Liatis, Violeta Iotova, Yulia Bazdraska, Tsvetalina Tankova, Greet Cardon, Katja Wikström, Imre Rurik, Emese Antal, Alelí M. Ayala-Marín, Natalia Giménez Legarre, Konstantinos Makrilakis and Yannis Manios ()
Additional contact information
Dimitrios V. Diamantis: Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Science and Education, Harokopio University, 17671 Athens, Greece
Kalliopi Karatzi: Laboratory of Dietetics and Quality of Life, Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition, School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, Greece
Paris Kantaras: Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Science and Education, Harokopio University, 17671 Athens, Greece
Stavros Liatis: Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
Violeta Iotova: Department of Paediatrics, Medical University of Varna, 9010 Varna, Bulgaria
Yulia Bazdraska: Department of Paediatrics, Medical University of Varna, 9010 Varna, Bulgaria
Tsvetalina Tankova: Clinical Center of Endocrinology and Gerontology, Medical University of Sofia, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria
Greet Cardon: Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Katja Wikström: Department of Public Health and Welfare, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, 00271 Helsinki, Finland
Imre Rurik: Department of Family Medicine Hungarian Society of Nutrition, Semmelweis University, 1085 Budapest, Hungary
Emese Antal: Hungarian Society of Nutrition, 1088 Budapest, Hungary
Alelí M. Ayala-Marín: Growth, Exercise, Nutrition and Development (GENUD) Research Group, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Natalia Giménez Legarre: Growth, Exercise, Nutrition and Development (GENUD) Research Group, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Konstantinos Makrilakis: Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
Yannis Manios: Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Science and Education, Harokopio University, 17671 Athens, Greece

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-15

Abstract: To effectively tackle obesity, it is necessary to identify all specific socioeconomic factors which contribute to its development. We aimed to highlight the prevalence of adult overweight/obesity in European countries and investigate the association of various socioeconomic factors and their accumulative effect on overweight/obesity status. Cross-sectional data from the Feel4Diabetes study for 24,562 adults residing in low socioeconomic areas were collected, representing Belgium, Finland, Greece, Spain, Bulgaria, and Hungary. Socioeconomic Burden Score (SEBS) was created, accounting for unemployment, financial insecurity, and education ≤ 12 years. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and logistic regression. In total, 19,063 adults with complete data were included (34.5% overweight and 15.8% obese). The highest overweight/obesity rates occurred in Greece (37.5%/17.8%) and Hungary (35.4%/19.7%). After adjusting for confounders, age of <45 years and female sex were inversely associated with overweight/obesity, while low educational level (≤12 years), unemployment, and financial insecurity were positively associated. The increase in SEBS (clustering of socioeconomic disadvantages) was associated with increased overweight/obesity likelihood. This association of SEBS scores with overweight/obesity was evident for males and females across all examined countries, excluding males in low-income countries (Bulgaria and Hungary), where the highest SEBS score was inversely associated with overweight/obesity. The clustering burden of socioeconomic disadvantages on overweight/obesity was found to be influenced by the countries’ economic state and sex.

Keywords: obesity; education; income security; occupation; socioeconomic factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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