Are geographic regions with high income inequality associated with risk of abdominal weight gain?
Geographic regions characterized by income inequality are associated with adverse mortality statistics, but the pathophysiologic mechanisms that mediate this ecologic relationship have not been elucidated. This study used a United States mail survey of 34158 male and 42741 female healthy-adult volunteers to test the association between residence in geographic regions with relative income inequality and the likelihood of weight gain at the waist. Respondents came from 21 states that were characterized by the household income inequality (HII) index, a measure reflecting the proportion of total income received by the more well off 50% of households in the state. The main outcome measure was self-reported weight gain mainly at the waist as opposed to weight gain at other anatomic sites. After controlling for age, other individual-level factors, and each state’s median household income, men’s likelihood of weight gain at the waist was positively associated (p = 0.0008) with the HII index. M
