RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
A1 Pikhart, Hynek
A1 Bobak, Martin
A1 Malyutina, Sofia
A1 Pajak, Andrzej
A1 Kubínová, Růžena
A1 Marmot, Michael
T1 Obesity and Education in Three Countries of the Central and Eastern Europe: The HAPIEE Study
JF Central European Journal of Public Health
YR 2007
VO 15
IS 4
SP 140
OP 142
DO 10.21101/cejph.a3452
UL https://cejph.szu.cz/artkey/cjp-200704-0002.php
AB The international pattern of obesity is only partly understood. While in developed countries the association between education and obesity is inverse, in the developing world social distribution of obesity is less predictable. We examined obesity patterns in three countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE): Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic, middle-income post-communist countries undergoing social and economic transition. The prevalence of obesity was inversely associated with education of individuals in our three samples of Central and Eastern European populations. In agreement with previous findings, the inverse socioeconomic gradient was more pronounced in the Czech Republic and Poland, countries with higher Gross National Product (GNP) than Russia. In addition, obesity was more common in Russian women than in Czech or Polish women while Russian men were less obese than Czech or Polish men. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the social gradient in obesity differs between populations - it is more likely to find a reverse association between socioeconomic position and prevalence of obesity in the more westernized countries with higher population income.