Obesity in women from developing countries

Objectives: The key objective was to estimate obesity(greater than or equal to 30 kg/m(2)) in women 15-49 y from developing countries. A second object ive was to study how obesity varies by educational level and by residence i n urban and rural areas. A third objective was to investigate how national incomes shape the relationship between obesity and eduction or residence. Design: The analyses use cross-sectional data from nationally representativ e surveys from developing countries carried out in the last decade. Most of the surveys were Demographic Health Surveys (DHS). Data from a survey from the USA are used for comparison. Setting:The 39 surveys used come from 38 developing countries and the USA. Subjects: A total of 147,938 non-pregnant women 15-49 y were included in th e analyses. Results: The percentage of obese women was 0.1% in South Asia, 2.5% in Sub- Saharan Africa, 9.6% in Latin America and the Caribbean, 15.4% in Central E astern Europe/Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS), 17.2% in the Mi ddle East and North Africa, and 20.7% in the USA. Levels of obesity in coun tries increased sharply until a gross national product of US$1500 per capit a (1992 values) was reached and changed little thereafter. In very poor cou ntries, such as in Sub-Saharan Africa, obesity levels were greatly concentr ated among urban and higher educated women. In more developed countries, su ch as those in Latin America and the CEE/CIS regions, obesity levels were m ore equally distributed in the general population. Conclusions: Based on the analyses presented and on a review of the literat ure, it is concluded that obesity among women is a serious problem in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, and the CEE/C IS region. Obesity is less of a concern in Sub-Saharan Africa, China and So uth Asia. Obesity levels increased over time in most of the limited number of countries with data, but at varying rates. Rising national incomes in de veloping countries and increased 'Westernization' will most likely lead to increased levels of obesity in the future.