Differing trends in the association between obesity and self-reported health in Portugal and Switzerland. Data from national health surveys 1992–2007

BMC Public Health

Fred Paccaud²  Paula Ravasco¹  Pedro Marques-Vidal² 

[1] Unidade de Nutrição e Metabolismo, Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal;Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (IUMSP), CHUV and Faculty of biology and medicine, Lausanne, Switzerland

关键词: Switzerland;    Portugal;    Trends;    Population survey;    Self-rated health;    Obesity;   

Others  :  1163387
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-12-588

 received in 2012-01-25, accepted in 2012-06-05,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

The escalating prevalence of obesity might prompt obese subjects to consider themselves as normal, as this condition is gradually becoming as frequent as normal weight. In this study, we aimed to assess the trends in the associations between obesity and self-rated health in two countries.

Methods

Data from the Portuguese (years 1995–6, 1998–6 and 2005–6) and Swiss (1992–3, 1997, 2002 and 2007) National Health Surveys were used, corresponding to more than 130,000 adults (64,793 for Portugal and 65,829 for Switzerland). Body mass index and self-rated health were derived from self-reported data.

Results

Obesity levels were higher in Portugal (17.5% in 2005–6 vs. 8.9% in 2007 in Switzerland, p < 0.001) and increased in both countries. The prevalence of participants rating their health as “bad” or “very bad” was higher in Portugal than in Switzerland (21.8% in 2005–6 vs 3.9% in 2007, p < 0.001). In both countries, obese participants rated more frequently their health as “bad” or “very bad” than participants with regular weight. In Switzerland, the prevalence of “bad” or “very bad” rates among obese participants, increased from 6.5% in 1992–3 to 9.8% in 2007, while in Portugal it decreased from 41.3% to 32.3%. After multivariate adjustment, the odds ratio (OR) of stating one self’s health as “bad” or “very bad” among obese relative to normal weight participants, almost doubled in Switzerland: from 1.38 (95% confidence interval, CI: 1.01–1.87) in 1992–3 to 2.64 (95% CI: 2.14–3.26) in 2007, and similar findings were obtained after sample weighting. Conversely, no such trend was found in Portugal: 1.35 (95% CI: 1.23–1.48) in 1995–6 and 1.52 (95% CI: 1.37–1.70) in 2005–6.

Conclusion

Obesity is increasing in Switzerland and Portugal. Obesity is increasingly associated with poorer self-health ratings in Switzerland but not in Portugal.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Marques-Vidal et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]Finucane MM, Stevens GA, Cowan MJ, Danaei G, Lin JK, Paciorek CJ, et al.: (Eds):National, regional, and global trends in body-mass index since 1980: systematic analysis of health examination surveys and epidemiological studies with 960 country-years and 9.1 million participants. In. Lancet 2011, 377:557-567.
• [2]International Obesity Task Force: Obesity prevalence worldwide. 2011. http://www.iaso.org/iotf/obesity/ webcite Assessed 29-1-2011
• [3]Allender S, Rayner M: The burden of overweight and obesity-related ill health in the UK. Obes Rev 2007, 8:467-473.
• [4]Davin C, Vollenweider P, Waeber G, Paccaud F: Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. Cardiovascular risk factors attributable to obesity and overweight in Switzerland, Marques-Vidal P; 2011.
• [5]Prospective Studies Collaboration: Body-mass index and cause-specific mortality in 900 000 adults: collaborative analyses of 57 prospective studies. Lancet 2009, 373:1083-1096.
• [6]Prosper MH, Moczulski VL, Qureshi A: Obesity as a predictor of self-rated health. Am J Health Behav 2009, 33:319-329.
• [7]Trakas K, Oh PI, Singh S, Risebrough N, Shear NH: The health status of obese individuals in Canada. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2001, 25:662-668.
• [8]Kepka D, Ayala GX, Cherrington A: Do Latino immigrants link self-rated health with BMI and health behaviors? Am J Health Behav 2007, 31:535-544.
• [9]Flodmark CE: The happy obese child. Int J Obes (Lond) 2005, 29(Suppl 2):S31-S33.
• [10]Macmillan R, Duke N, Oakes JM, Liao W: Trends in the association of obesity and self-reported overall health in 30 years of the integrated health interview series. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2011, 19:1103-1105.
• [11]Burke MA, Heiland FW, Nadler CM: From "overweight" to "about right": evidence of a generational shift in body weight norms. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2010, 18:1226-1234.
• [12]Marques-Vidal P, Dias CM: Trends in overweight and obesity in Portugal: the National Health Surveys 1995–6 and 1998–9. Obes Res 2005, 13:1141-1145.
• [13]Marques-Vidal P, Bovet P, Paccaud F, Chiolero A: Changes of overweight and obesity in the adult Swiss population according to educational level, from 1992 to 2007. BMC Publ Health 2010, 10:87. BioMed Central Full Text
• [14]Instituto Nacional de Estatística IP: Inquérito nacional de saúde 2005/2006. Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge IP, Lisboa, Portugal; 2009:1-330.
• [15]Calmonte R, Galati-Petrecca M, Lieberherr R, Neuhaus M, Kahlmeier S: Gesundheit und Gesundheitsverhalten in der Schweiz 1992–2002. Schweizerische Gesundheitsbefragung, Neuchâtel, Switzerland; 2005. Bundesamt für Statistik
• [16]IHA-GfK: Schweizerische Gesundheitsbefragung SGB 2002 – Schlussbericht zur Datenerhebung. Bundesamt für Statistik, Neuchâtel, Switzerland; 2003.
• [17]Darviri C, Artemiadis AK, Tigani X, Alexopoulos EC: Lifestyle and self-rated health: a cross-sectional study of 3,601 citizens of Athens, Greece. BMC Public Health 2011, 11:619. BioMed Central Full Text
• [18]Girón P: Determinants of self-rated health in Spain: differences by age groups for adults. Eur J Public Health 2010, 22:36-40.
• [19]Marques-Vidal P, Vollenweider P, Waeber G, Paccaud F: Prevalence of overweight and obesity among migrants in Switzerland: association with country of origin. Public Health Nutr 2011, 14:1148-1156.
• [20]Gray L, Merlo J, Mindell J, Hallqvist J, Tafforeau J, O'Reilly D, et al.: International differences in self-reported health measures in 33 major metropolitan areas in Europe. Eur J Public Health 2010, 22:40-47.
• [21]Månsson NO, Merlo J: The relation between self-rated health, socioeconomic status, body mass index and disability pension among middle-aged men. Eur J Epidemiol 2001, 17:65-69.
• [22]Okosun IS, Choi S, Matamoros T, Dever GE: Obesity is associated with reduced self-rated general health status: evidence from a representative sample of white, black, and Hispanic Americans. Prev Med 2001, 32:429-436.
• [23]Imai K, Gregg EW, Chen YJ, Zhang P, de Rekeneire N, Williamson DF: The association of BMI with functional status and self-rated health in US adults. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2008, 16:402-408.
• [24]Brewis AA, Hruschka DJ, Wutich A: Vulnerability to fat-stigma in women's everyday relationships. Soc Sci Med 2011, 73:491-497.
• [25]Field AE, Austin SB, Camargo CA Jr, Taylor CB, Striegel-Moore RH, Loud KJ, et al.: Exposure to the mass media, body shape concerns, and use of supplements to improve weight and shape among male and female adolescents. Pediatrics 2005, 116:e214-e220.
• [26]Alwan H, Viswanathan B, Paccaud F, Bovet P: Is accurate perception of body image associated with appropriate weight-control behavior among adolescents of the Seychelles. J Obes 2011, 201(1):817242.
• [27]Jaeger I: Habitudes alimentaires et image corporelle chez des étudiants de deuxième année de gymnase à Lausanne [Food habits and body image of students in Lausanne]. Rev Med Suisse 2008, 4:1432-1435.
• [28]Gorber SC, Tremblay M, Moher D, Gorber B: A comparison of direct vs. self-report measures for assessing height, weight and body mass index: a systematic review. Obes Rev 2007, 8:307-326.
• [29]Ford ES, Moriarty DG, Zack MM, Mokdad AH, Chapman DP: Self-reported body mass index and health-related quality of life: findings from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Obes Res 2001, 9:21-31.
• [30]Zajacova A, Dowd JB: Reliability of Self-rated Health in US Adults. Am J Epidemiol 2011, 174:977-983.
• [31]Rohrer JE, Young R, Sicola V, Houston M: Overall self-rated health: a new quality indicator for primary care. J Eval Clin Pract 2007, 13:150-153.
• [32]Freyer-Adam J, Gaertner B, Tobschall S, John U: Health risk factors and self-rated health among job-seekers. BMC Publ Health 2011, 11:659. BioMed Central Full Text
• [33]Perdigao C, Rocha E, Duarte JS, Santos A, Macedo A: Prevalence and distribution of the main cardiovascular risk factors in Portugal–the AMALIA study. Rev Port Cardiol 2011, 30:393-432.