Relationship between sociodemographic variables and obesity in Spain

Objective: to know the relationship between obesity and some socioeconomic and behavioral variables in Spain, and to determine a predictive model between these variables. Material and methods: an ecological study was designed to relate the rates of obesity in adults (dependent variable) and GDP, the rate of university studies, the abstainers rate, the rate of risk drinkers, the rate of smokers, the rate of heavy smokers, the rate of insufficient consumption of fruits and vegetables and the rate of sedentary lifestyle (independent variables). Simple linear regressions were performed between the dependent variable and each independent variable, and a predictive model between obesity and independent variables was estimated by multiple linear regression. Results: the statistically significant variables for a higher rate of obesity were a low GDP, a low rate of university graduates and high rates of heavy smokers. Of these, GDP was the most influential. Conclusions: a higher GDP, a higher rate of people with university studies and a higher rate of heavy smokers are significantly related to lower rates of obesity.