The relationship between altitude and BMI varies across low- and middle-income countries.

Autor: Maxfield A; Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA., Hadley C; Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.; Department of Quantitative Theory and Methods, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA., Hruschka DJ; School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council [Am J Hum Biol] 2024 May; Vol. 36 (5), pp. e24036. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jan 11.
DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.24036
Abstrakt: Objectives: Studies suggest that living at high altitude decreases obesity risk, but this research is limited to single-country analyses. We examine the relationship between altitude and body mass index (BMI) among women living in a diverse sample of low- and middle-income countries.
Materials and Methods: Using Demographic and Health Survey data from 1 583 456 reproductive age women (20-49 years) in 54 countries, we fit regression models predicting BMI and obesity by altitude controlling for a range of demographic factors-age, parity, breastfeeding status, wealth, and education.
Results: A mixed-effects model with country-level random intercepts and slopes predicts an overall -0.162 kg/m 2 (95% CI -0.220, -0.104) reduction in BMI and lower odds of obesity (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.87, 0.95) for every 200 m increase in altitude. However, countries vary dramatically in whether they exhibit a negative or positive association between altitude and BMI (34 countries negative, 20 positive). Mixed findings also arise when examining odds of obesity.
Discussion: We show that past findings of declining obesity risk with altitude are not universal. Increasing altitude predicts slightly lower BMIs at the global level, but the relationship within individual countries varies in both strength and direction.
(© 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: