Fish Quarrantine and Inspection Agency, Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Jl. Suratmo 28, Semarang, Central Java 50148, Indonesia.
Ministry of Planning and Finance, Office No. 26, Naypyitaw, Myanmar.
Public Health. 2019 Apr;169:26-35. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2019.01.004. Epub 2019 Feb 16.
The obesity epidemic has prevailed worldwide and is currently recognized as a global pandemic disease. Given the argument that various socio-economic features contribute to substantial differences in obesity rates across countries, economic development can also be considered a crucial factor of such variation. This study examines the relationship between economic development and each of three weight-related health statuses (rates of overweight, obesity, and morbid obesity).
This study uses panel data analysis.
Using country-level panel data of 130 countries during the period from 1975 to 2010, we apply dynamic panel data analysis to mitigate possible endogeneity problems.
The main results show a clear pattern of the obesity Kuznets curve, i.e. a non-linear relationship between a country's income per capita and its weight-related health status, for both males and females. For low-income countries, as incomes increase, the weight-related health status deteriorates; thus, an increase in incomes raises the health risk. In contrast, for high-income countries, as incomes increase, the weight-related health status improves; thus, an increase in incomes reduces the health risk.
The policy implications from our analysis include the argument that a strong initiative for health policy targeting obesity prevention is required for middle-income countries, many of which are currently experiencing high economic growth.
肥胖症在全球范围内盛行，目前被认为是一种全球性的流行疾病。鉴于各种社会经济特征导致各国肥胖率存在显著差异的观点，经济发展也可以被视为这种差异的一个关键因素。本研究考察了经济发展与三种与体重相关的健康状况（超重率、肥胖率和病态肥胖率）之间的关系。
本研究采用面板数据分析。
使用 1975 年至 2010 年间 130 个国家的国家级面板数据，我们应用动态面板数据分析来减轻可能存在的内生性问题。
主要结果显示了一个清晰的肥胖库兹涅茨曲线模式，即一个国家的人均收入与其体重相关的健康状况之间存在非线性关系，无论是男性还是女性。对于低收入国家，随着收入的增加，体重相关的健康状况会恶化；因此，收入的增加会增加健康风险。相比之下，对于高收入国家，随着收入的增加，体重相关的健康状况会改善；因此，收入的增加会降低健康风险。
我们的分析得出的政策含义包括，对于许多目前经历着高速经济增长的中等收入国家来说，需要采取强有力的预防肥胖的卫生政策措施。
