Twenty-five year trends in body mass index by education and income in Finland

BMC Public Health

Table 2 The relative effect of education and household income to BMI in five different study periods in women and in men

WOMEN	1978–1982		1983–1987		1988–1992		1993–1997		1998–2002
	M	Adj.	M	Adj.	M	Adj.	M	Adj.	M	Adj.
Household income
low	24,1	23,9	24,0	23,9	24,0	23,9	24,4	24,3	24,6	24,5
intermediated	23,6	23,5	23,5	23,5	23,8	23,7	24,2	24,2	24,5	24,5
high	23,0	23,1	23,2	23,3	23,5	23,6	23,8	24,0	23,8	24,0
Difference high - low	−1,1***	−0,7***	−0,8***	−0,5***	−0,6***	−0,3**	−0,6***	−0,3**	−0,8***	−0,6***
Difference high - low (%)	−4,4	−3,1	−3,4	−2,3	−2,4	−1,3	−2,5	−1,4	−3,1	−2,3
Education
low	24,1	24,0	24,2	24,2	24,4	24,3	24,8	24,7	24,8	24,7
intermediated	23,6	23,6	23,5	23,5	23,8	23,7	24,2	24,2	24,4	24,4
high	22,8	23,0	23,0	23,1	23,2	23,2	23,5	23,6	23,7	23,8
Difference high - low	−1,3***	−1,1***	−1,3***	−1,1***	−1,2***	−1,1***	−1,3***	−1,2***	−1,1***	−0,9***
Difference high - low (%)	−5,4	−4,5	−5,3	−4,6	−4,9	−4,5	−5,1	−4,8	−4,3	−3,7
MEN
Household income
low	25,0	24,9	25,1	25,0	25,4	25,3	25,7	25,6	25,9	25,8
intermediated	24,9	24,9	25,2	25,2	25,4	25,4	25,6	25,6	25,9	25,8
high	24,9	25,0	25,0	25,1	25,2	25,3	25,6	25,7	25,9	26,0
Difference high - low	−0,1	0,1	−0,1	0,1	−0,2*	0	−0,1	0,1	0,1	0,2
Difference high - low (%)	−0,5	0,4	−0,3	0,6	−0,8	0	−0,3	0,5	0,2	0,7
Education
low	25,2	25,2	25,4	25,4	25,7	25,7	26,0	26,1	26,2	26,2
intermediated	25,1	25,1	25,2	25,2	25,4	25,4	25,5	25,5	25,7	25,7
high	24,5	24,5	24,7	24,7	24,9	24,9	25,3	25,3	25,8	25,7
Difference high - low	−0,7***	−0,7***	−0,7***	−0,8***	−0,8***	−0,8***	−0,7***	−0,7***	−0,4**	−0,5***
Difference high - low (%)	−2,8	−3	−2,9	−3	−3,2	−3,2	−2,7	−2,8	−1,6	−1,8

M=geometric mean adjusted for age, Adj.=geometric mean adjusted for age and the other SEP-variable, Difference high – low: p-values are calculated assuming linear change in mean log-BMI values for household income and education classes; p-value is the significance of change between ‘low’ category and ‘intermediated’ category and between ‘intermediated’ category and ‘high’ category. Numbers are the difference of BMI between ‘high’ category and ‘low’ category, Difference high - low (%): difference high – low divided by mean BMI in ‘low’ category, P-values: *) <0.05, **) <0.01, ***) <0.001.

ISSN: 1471-2458