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

Javed Z, Valero-Elizondo J, Maqsood MH, Mahajan S, Taha MB, Patel KV, Sharma G, Hagan K, Blaha MJ, Blankstein R, Mossialos E, Virani SS, Cainzos-Achirica M, Nasir K. Social determinants of health and obesity: Findings from a national study of US adults. Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.). 2022 Feb 1; 30(2):491-502.

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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.