Cohort Analysis of Obesity: Trends by Education in the United States 1976-2014

Anja K. Leist, University of Luxembourg
Louis Chauvel , University of Luxembourg

Mid-aged low-educated White men have been identified at risk for multiple indicators of morbidity and mortality (Case & Deaton 2015), with clear cohort effects at play (Chauvel, Leist, Smith 2016). Testing another health risk factor, we use new age-period-cohort (APC) methods to detect cohorts and educational groups at particular risk of obesity in NHIS 1976-2014 (N=1,257,802): APC-Trend analysis to estimate slopes of obesity rates across cohorts, and APC-Gap analysis to estimate gaps between BA-holders and non-holders. We detect steep increases in obesity rates and educational gaps in women from the 1960s cohort onwards. For men, both rates and educational gaps in obesity are linearly increasing across all cohorts under investigation. While women born 1960+ show higher obesity rates and will likely be in higher need of obesity-associated social and healthcare than earlier-born cohorts soon, universal increases in obesity rates across all cohorts provide more support for the obesogenic environment hypothesis.

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 Presented in Session 84. Obesity: Trends, Causes, Consequences