Being Married May Increase Risk of Overweight, Obesity

TOPLINE: 

Married men and women experience higher risk for overweight and obesity in adulthood, although being married is associated with obesity only in men.

METHODOLOGY:

• It is estimated that approximately two thirds (65.6%) of Polish adults are overweight, with 29.2% having obesity.
• To determine possible sociodemographic and psychosocial risk factors behind these trends, researchers analyzed data from a multi-center national population health examination survey (WOBASZ II).
• A total of 2405 participants (1098 men and 1307 women; median age, 50 years) were included in the study, among whom 35.3% had normal weight, 38.3% had overweight, and 26.4% had obesity.
• In addition to marital status and age, functional health literacy, depression, and social support were assessed using various questionnaires.
• Logistic regression was conducted to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) for selected risk factors. 

TAKEAWAY:

• Being married was associated with a 62% increased risk for overweight in men and a 39% increased risk in women and with a nearly threefold increased risk for obesity only in men (OR, 3.19) compared with unmarried participants.
• Age was an independent risk factor for both overweight and obesity in men (OR, 1.03 and 1.04, respectively) and in women (OR, 1.04 and 1.06, respectively).
• In women, increased body weight was linked to living in communities with fewer than 8000 people (OR, 1.46) and inadequate health literacy (OR, 1.43), whereas reporting at least borderline depression (OR, 2.06) was associated with a higher risk of obesity.
• No association was found between social support and body weight.

IN PRACTICE:

“Age and marital status have undeniable impact on living with overweight or obesity in adulthood regardless of sex,” the authors wrote. “It seems that the dissemination of health knowledge and health promotion across lifespan could reduce the disturbing phenomenon of increasing obesity in the Polish population.” 

SOURCE:

The study was led by Alicja Cicha-Mikołajczyk, National Institute of Cardiology in Warsaw, Poland. It was published as an early release from the European Congress on Obesity to be held in Malaga, Spain, from May 11 to 14, 2025.

LIMITATIONS: 

No limitations were discussed in this abstract.

DISCLOSURES:

No funding information was provided in the abstract. The authors declared having no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.