Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity and Their Associations with Socioeconomic Status in a Rural Han Chinese Adult Population

Background: The purpose of this study is to describe the prevalence of overweight, general obesity, and abdominal obesity and examine their associations with socioeconomic status in a rural Chinese adult population. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 15,236 participants >= 35 years of age (6,313 men [41.4%] and 8,923 women [58.6%]). Each participant's weight, height, waist circumference (WC), and hipline circumference (HC) were measured, and demographic and socioeconomic data were collected using questionnaires. Results: The mean body mass index (BMI) values were 23.31 +/- 2.96 and 23.89 +/- 3.23 kg m(-2) and the mean WC values were 79.13 +/- 8.43 and 79.54 +/- 8.27 cm for men and women, respectively. The age-standardized prevalence rates of overweight (BMI >= 24.0 kg m(-2)), general obesity (BMI >= 28.0 kg m(-2)), and abdominal obesity (WC >= 85 cm for men and >= 80 cm for women) were 32.0%, 6.7%, and 27.0% for men and 35.1%, 9.7%, and 48.3% for women, respectively. All gender differences were statistically significant (p < 0.001). In addition, the age-specific prevalence rates of general and abdominal obesity slowly decreased among men but sharply increased among women as age increased (p < 0.001). In subsequent logistic regression analysis, educational level was negatively associated with both general obesity and abdominal obesity among women but positively associated with abdominal obesity among men. No significant correlation was found between obesity and income. Conclusions: These results suggest a high prevalence of obesity which might differ by gender and age, and an inverse association among women and a mixed association among men noted between education and obesity in our locality. Preventive and therapeutic programs are warranted to control this serious public health problem. The gender-specific characteristics of populations at high-risk of developing obesity should be taken into consideration when designing interventional programs.