Abstract
Aim
The current study concentrates on the issue of income related inequality in obesity for the case of European Union, an association, which has not been thoroughly examined in the literature.
Subjects and methods
Ten European countries for a period of 4 consecutive years (1998–2001) are under consideration, with the information deriving from the “European Community Household Panel” (ECHP) dataset. In order to elaborate on the above association, the concentration index was selected as a means for measuring quantitatively the degree of inequality. Furthermore, an alternative method was introduced, known as the “indirect standardization method,” so as to examine if the observed level of inequality was over-reported.
Results
Treating the European Union as a whole, income inequality in obesity appears to be a burden for the less affluent. Investigation of each country separately reveals that inequality is of most importance for the female population, and especially for the middle-aged one, while no clear association was found for the males. Furthermore, negligence to adjust the models for the education level and the employment status could lead to an over-estimation of the inequality in obesity.
Conclusion
Our primary results attest to the existing literature, showing that a BMI with a value greater than 30 is most likely to be an encumbrance for those of low socioeconomic profiles. However, the extent of inequality in the European Union is found to be low. Effective preventive policies should address the low socioeconomic status female population in Europe, and special attention should be given to the middle-aged.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Costa-Font J (2005) Are there socioeconomic inequalities in obesity in Spain? FEDEA 216:1–26
Daly MC, Duncan GJ, Kaplan GA, Lynch JW (1998) Macro to micro links in the relation between income inequality and mortality. Milbank Quart 76:315–339
Gordon-Larsen P, Adair LS, Popkin BM (2003) The relationship of ethnicity, socioeconomic factors, and overweight in U.S. adolescents. Obes Res 11:121–129
Jenkins S (1988) Calculating income distribution indices from micro data. National Tax J 41:139–142
Kakwani N, Wagstaff A, van Doorslaer E (1997) Socioeconomic inequalities in health: measurement, computation, and statistical inference. J Econometrics 77:87–103
Kaplan GA, Pamuk ER, Lynch JW, Cohen RD, Balfour JL (1996) Inequality in income and mortality in he United States: analysis of mortality and potential pathways. Brit Med J 312:999–1003
Kautto M, Fritzell J, Hvinden B, Kvist J, Uusitalo H, Nordic Welfare States in the European Context. Routlege, NY; 2001
Kawachi I, Kennedy BP (1997) The relationship of income inequality to mortality: does the choice of indicator matter? Soc Sci Med 45:1121–1127
Kennedy BP, Kawachi I, Glass R, Stith DP (1998) Income distribution, socioeconomic status and self-rated health in the United States: multilevel analysis. Brit Med J 317:917–921
Kinra S, Nelder R, Lewendon G (2000) Deprivation and childhood obesity: a cross-sectional study of 20,973 children in Plymouth, United Kingdom. J Epidemiol Commun Health 54:456–460
Lerman RI, Yitzaki S (1989) Improving the accuracy of estimates of Gini coefficients. J Econometrics 42(1):43–47
Lissau-Lund-Sorensen I, Sorensen TIA (1992) Prospective study of the influence of social factors in childhood on risk of overweight in young adulthood. Int J Obes Rel Met Disord 16:169–175
Lorant V, Tonglet R (2000) Obesity: trend in inequality. J Epidemiol Commun Health 54:637–638
McLaren L (2007) Socioeconomic status and obesity. Epidemiol Rev, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary :1–20
Miech RA, Kumanyida SK, Stettler N, Link BG, Phelan JC, Chang VW (2006) Trends in the association of poverty with overweight among US adolescents, 1971–2004. J Am Med Ass 295:2385–2393
Newey WK, West KD (1994) Automatic lag selection in covariance matrix estimation. Rev Econ Stud 61(4):631–653
Pickett KE, Kelly S, Brunner E, Lobstein T, Wilkinson RG (2005) Wider income gaps, wider waistbands? An ecological study of obesity and income inequality. J Epidemiol Commun Health 59:670–674
Power C, Moynihan C (1988) Social class and changes in weight-for-height between childhood and early adulthood. Int J Obes Rel Met Disord 12:445–453
Sarlio- Lähteenkorva S, Lissau I, Lahelma E (2005) The social patterning of relative body weight and obesity in Denmark and Finland. Eur J Pub Health 16(1):36–40
Sobal J, Stunkard AJ (1989) Socioeconomic status and obesity: a review of the literature. Psychol Bull 105:260–275
Soobader MJ, LeClere FB (1999) Aggregation and the measurement of income inequality: effects on morbidity. Soc Sci Med 48:733–744
Subramanian SV, Kawachi I (2004) Income inequality and health: what have we learned so far? Epidemiol Rev 26:78–91
van Doorslaer E, Wagstaff A, Bleichrodt H, Calonge S, Gerdtham Ulf-G, Gerfin M, Geurts J, Gross L, Hakkinen U, Leu RE, O’ Donnell O, Propper C, Puffer F, Rodriguez M, Sundberg G, Winkelhake O (1997) Income-related inequalities in health: some international comparisons. J Health Econ 16:93–112
Wagstaff A, Paci P, Van Doorslaer E (1991) On the measurement of inequalities in health. Soc Sci Med 33:545–557
Wamala SP, Wolk A, Orth-Gomer C (1997) Determinants of obesity in relation to socioeconomic status among middle-aged Swedish women. Prev Med 26:734–744
Wang Y (2001) Cross-national comparison of childhood obesity: the epidemic and the relationship between obesity and socioeconomic status. Int J Epidemiol 30:1129–1136
Wardle J, Griffith J (2001) Socioeconomic status and weight control practices in British adults. J Epidemiol Commun Health 55:185–190
Wilkinson R (1997) Health inequalities: relative or absolute material standards. Brit Med J 314:591–595
Zhang Q, Wang Y (2004) Socioeconomic inequality of obesity in the United States: do gender, age, and ethnicity matter? Soc Sci Med 58:1171–1180
Zhang Q, Wang Y (2007) Using concentration index to study changes in socioeconomic inequality of overweight among US adolescents between 1971 and 2002. Int J Epidemiol1–10
Acknowledgements
None.
Conflict of interest statement
The authors confirm that there are no relevant associations that might pose a conflict of interest.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nikolaou, A., Nikolaou, D. Income-related inequality in the distribution of obesity among Europeans. J Public Health 16, 403–411 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-008-0185-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-008-0185-x