title: Socioeconomic status and obesity in Cairo, Egypt: a heavy burden for all.
abstract: Studies have generally shown a positive association between socioeconomic status (SES) and obesity in low-income countries, but few have tested this relationship in the Middle East where obesity prevalence is extraordinarily high and the nutrition profile more closely resembles developed world contexts. The objective of this study is to examine the SES-obesity association in Cairo, Egypt. Multinomial regression analyses were conducted and predicted probabilities were found for overweight and obesity status among adult men and women in a stratified analysis. Data were taken from the 2007 Cairo Urban Inequity Study which collected information on 3993 individuals from 50 neighborhoods in the Cairo Governorate. Five different measures of SES were utilized - education, household expenditures, household assets, subjective wealth, and father's education. No significant associations were found between most measures of SES and overweight/obesity in this population. Overweight and obesity are prevalent across the SES spectrum. These findings suggest that obesity programs and policies should be targeted at all SES groups in Cairo, although specific mechanisms may vary by SES and should be explored further in future studies.
authors.affiliation: Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, United States. Electronic address: mmowafi@post.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Mona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mowafi
authors.affiliation: American University in Cairo, Social Research Center, AUC Ave., P.O. Box 74, New Cairo 11835, Egypt.
authors.forename: Zeinab
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Khadr
authors.affiliation: Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, United States.
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kawachi
authors.affiliation: Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, United States.
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Subramanian
authors.affiliation: Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Global Health and Population, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, United States.
authors.forename: Allan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.affiliation: Duke University, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Box 90086, Durham, NC 27708, United States.
authors.forename: Gary G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Bennett
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004534:Egypt / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011203:Poverty / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D057566:Self Report; D012923:Social Class; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Egypt; Health inequities; Obesity; Social epidemiology; Socioeconomic status