IJE Advance Access published online on October 28, 2005
International Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/ije/dyi214
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1 Inserm Unité 258, Villejuif, France; Health of Population in Transition Research Group, Yaoundé, Cameroon
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. 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 amenities, occupation, and education. Weight, height, and waist circumference were measured and subjects were classified as obese if their BMI Results Of the sample studied 33% of women and 30% of men were overweight (P < 0.08), whereas 22% of women and 7% of men were obese (P < 0.001). Abdominal obesity was present in 67% of women and 18% of men (P < 0.001). After adjusting for age, leisure time physical activity, alcohol consumption, and tobacco smoking, the prevalence of overweight + obesity, obesity, and abdominal obesity increased with quartiles of household amenities in both genders and with occupational level in men. Conclusion SES is positively associated with adiposity in urban Cameroon after adjusting for confounding factors.
Accepted July 28, 2005
Original paper
Association between socioeconomic status and adiposity in urban Cameroon
2 Health of Population in Transition Research Group, Yaoundé, Cameroon
3 Inserm Unité 258, Villejuif, France
4 World Health Organization, Geneva; University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England
5 Imperial College, London, England
Jean-Claude Mbanya, E-mail: jean-claude.mbanya{at}camnet.cm
Abstract 
30 kg/m2 or overweight if BMI was between 25.0 and 29.9 kg/m2. Abdominal obesity was defined by a waist circumference 80 cm in women and 94 cm in men.
A Commentary has been commissioned to accompany this article and will appear with this paper in the printed issue.
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