title: Coming unmoored: disproportionate increases in obesity prevalence among young, disadvantaged white women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Since the 1980s, older, low-educated White women experienced an unprecedented decrease in life expectancy. We investigated whether a similar phenomenon was evident among younger women for obesity.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, age-adjusted changes were estimated in the prevalence of overall and abdominal obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m(2) , waist circumference > 88 cm) between 1988-1994 and 2003-2010 among non-Hispanic White women aged 25-44 years, stratified by educational attainment (<high school (HS), HS, some college, college degree). To address bias from secular increases in educational attainment, White women's changes in obesity prevalence were compared to changes among similarly educated Black women.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Relative increases in overall obesity were disproportionately larger for low-educated (<HS) compared to college-educated White women: 12.3 (95% CI: 3.1, 21.5) percentage points (ppts). For overall and abdominal obesity, general trends indicated dissimilar racial differences by educational attainment. For instance, overall obesity increased more in Blacks than Whites among college-educated (9.9 ppts) but not low-educated (-2.5 ppts) women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Contemporary young, low-educated White women showed indications of disproportionate worsening of overall obesity prevalence compared to more educated White and similarly educated Black women. Low education levels are more powerful indicators of obesity risk among contemporary White women than 30 years ago.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Whitney R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: Kiarri N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Kershaw
authors.forename: Briana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mezuk
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rafferty
authors.forename: Hedwig
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Vicki
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Johnson-Lawrence
authors.forename: Marissa J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Seamans
authors.forename: James S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Jackson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D056128:Obesity, Abdominal; D011203:Poverty / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D012306:Risk; D035862:Vulnerable Populations / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055105:Waist Circumference; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*