Introduction This study evaluated socioeconomic inequality in morbid obesity (body mass index, BMI ≥40 kg/m2) through an analysis of population health survey data in the United States (US) and England (UK). Methods We analysed data for the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the Health Survey for England for 2011 to 2014. Age-adjusted odds ratios (AOR) were used to evaluate i...

This study investigated associations between objectively measured physical activity (PA) with sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity in older British men. Participants were men aged 70-92years (n=1286) recruited from UK Primary Care Centres. Outcomes included (i) sarcopenia, defined as low muscle mass (lowest two fifths of the mid-upper arm muscle circumference distribution) accompanied by low muscu...

Associations between body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage (BF%), and health risks differ between Asian and European populations. BMI is commonly used to diagnose obesity; however, its accuracy in detecting adiposity in Koreans is unknown. The present cross-sectional study aimed at assessing the accuracy of BMI in determining BF%-defined obesity in 6,017 subjects (age 20-69 yr, 43.6% men) ...

BACKGROUND As the relation between socioeconomic status (SES) and obesity may depend on the stage of development of a country, this relation is assessed in adults from urban Cameroon. METHODS A sample comprising 1530 women and 1301 men aged 25 years and above, from 1897 households in the Biyem-Assi health area in the capital of Cameroon, Yaoundé, were interviewed about their household ameniti...

Globally, men and women face markedly different risks of obesity. In all but of handful of (primarily Western European) countries, obesity is much more prevalent among women than men. We examine several potential explanations for this phenomenon. We analyze differences between men and women in reports and effects of potential underlying causes of obesity-childhood and adult poverty, depression,...

BACKGROUND The 2007 Wanless report highlights the ever increasing problem of obesity and the consequent health problems. Obesity is a significant cause of diabetes. An increasing evidence base suggests that in terms of reducing diabetes and CVD risk, it is better to be "fit and fat" than unfit and of normal weight. There has been very little previous research into the understandings that men in...

BACKGROUND Adverse health outcomes are associated with overweight and obesity. In February 2000, the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, the International Association for the Study of Obesity and the International Obesity Task Force published provisional recommendations for adults for the Asia-Pacific region: overweight at Body Mass Index (BMI) > or = 23 and obesity at BMI > or = 25. ...

BACKGROUND The prevalence of adult obesity is higher in women than men in most countries. However, the pathways that link female sex with excess obesity are still not fully understood. We examine whether socioeconomic and behavioural factors may mediate the association between sex and obesity in the Saudi Arabian setting where there is female excess in obesity. METHODS We performed a mediatio...