Study Overview
The burden of disease in developing countries has traditionally been characterized by undernutrition and infectious diseases. However, lifestyle in many developing countries now parallels that in the developed world, with increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity. It is unclear, however, how the prevalence of obesity varies across levels of socioeconomic status within such societies. We examined the prevalence of overweight and obesity among the rural poor in Mexico in comparison with a national sample.
Study Results
There is a high prevalence of overweight and obesity in the poorest segment of the Mexican population, and the prevalence is only slightly lower than that reported for a nationally representative health survey. The survey does not contain data about differences among regions of Mexico. Although the data do not permit conclusions about the causes of obesity in this population, we note that the prevalence of obesity we found is equal to or higher than in other Latin American countries.