Social contrasts in the incidence of obesity among adult large-city dwellers in Poland in 1986 and 1996

The incidence of obesity, defined as the fraction of persons with BMIs exce eding 30.0, was examined in two birth cohorts of 40-50-year-old occupationa lly active inhabitants of the city of Wroclaw, Poland. In both cohorts and both genders obesity increased monotonically with decreasing position on a three-level educational scale. During the 1986-1996 decade obesity increase d dramatically among males with trade school education only; concomitant sh ifts were much smaller or absent in the college-educated groups. The contra st in obesity between the opposite ends of the educational scale has widene d markedly in both genders; and the between-gender gap has declined somewha t.