This analysis was conducted to investigate the association between the socioeconomic indicators of education and income adequacy and the prevalence of obesity in a rural adult population. Our findings indicated that home location was related to the prevalence of obesity in adults in rural Saskatchewan and people living on farm had a reduced risk of obesity compared with those not living on farm. In a previous assessment the age standardized prevalence of diabetes was also shown to be lower in farm compared to non-farm residents (5.11 % and 7.33 %, respectively). However, the relationship was not modified by income adequacy or educational status [22].
The prevalence of obesity in our study was much higher than what has been reported nationally and slightly higher than what has been reported provincially. Previous studies have shown that people living in rural areas in Canada tend to have an elevated risk of obesity in general [3, 23], and this study showed similar results as compared with a previous study conducted in the same province [8]. Close to one third of our study population were obese as compared to about one fifth at the national level [3, 7]. In the 2004 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) conducted on a national sample, Shields noted that the highest prevalence of obesity (44 %) was primarily found person living in non-metropolitan areas [3] and in an earlier study of heart health in rural and urban adults, both rural men and women living in western Canada were more likely to be obese than their urban counterparts (41 % versus 34 % for men; 35 % versus 25 % for women) [24]. Our results appear slightly lower than what has been previously reported for rural populations [24]. However, our findings for prevalence should be interpreted cautiously because of our lower response rate in the study [25]. A fuller understanding of the underlying determinants of the urban/rural differences in prevalence is needed to develop effective programs to promote healthy weights for individuals and communities.
Home location (farm/non-farm) also modified the influence of income adequacy on obesity such that low income was associated with an increased risk of obesity only for those not living on farm. Hajizadeh et al. [23] examined the determinants of income inadequacies with obesity over time in Canadian adults. Using information from the 2000/01 CCHS, these researchers observed that rural residents had higher rates of obesity (25 %) compared to urban residents (20 %). Higher rates of obesity in rural populations of the CCHS was noted to be concentrated in the poorer populations. Overall obesity was also more common in women of lower income and men of higher income. The effect of farm living in the relationship between income and obesity has not been explored.
Globally, people with higher socioeconomic status are more likely to be obese in low income countries while it is the opposite in high-income countries, particularly for women [7, 26]. There is a possibility that high socioeconomic status leads to consuming high-calorie food and avoiding physically demanding work in poorer countries whereas richer countries, individuals with high socioeconomic status may respond with healthy eating and regular exercise [26]. In the current study, the results were similar except that lower income was not significantly associated with obesity among people living on farm. Reasons are not yet known for this observation that income adequacy was not an important determinant of obesity for individuals living on farm. It is possible that certain characteristics of the farming lifestyle could be important.
Farming by nature involves heavy physical activity that may be vigorous but sporadic with an intensity that is seasonal. The very nature of farming, involving high physical activity could contribute to the lower prevalence of obesity observed with farm populations compared to non-farm rural populations. Happanen [10] examined the age adjusted 10 year mean change in the body mass of various occupational groups including farmers. Although mean body mass increased over time for all groups, lower mean non-significant changes were seen for both male and female farmers. In our study, although obesity was lower than what was seen in the non-farming rural population, it was still higher than what has been reported nationally [3]. Similar findings of higher prevalence of obesity in farming populations have been reported internationally as well [11, 27, 28]. Although physical activity may reduce the risk of developing obesity, it is likely other factors such as diet may influence development of obesity in farming populations [27, 29] and require investigation.
This study has several limitations. The use of income as a measure of socioeconomic status with farming populations may pose challenges where the farm income is constantly susceptible in price changes for commodities produced on the farm and to environmental conditions that can affect crop yields which in turn can affect family income in any one year [30]. Education however, appears to be a much more consistent measure that is often used as a marker of socioeconomic status [16] and in this study, similar to other studies, showed consistent associations across farm and non-farm populations. Occupation as a marker for socioeconomic status and obesity was not used in this analysis. A previous report with rural dwellers found few consistent patterns of association between occupation skill level and chronic conditions whereas income and education provided better evidence of an economic gradient in health status [18].
In this study, some important obesity-related information such as diet and leisure/work physical activities and their intensity was not measured. Our findings were based on data from a population-based study of respiratory health in which obesity was not a principal outcome. Therefore, the findings from this preliminary examination of obesity and SES predictors in rural populations requires further studies.
BMI in this study was based on questionnaire reported height and weight. The use of self-reported height and weight as measures for BMI have been shown to be highly correlated (r = 0.92 for height and r = 0.94 for weight), [31] is most robust for younger adult populations [32]. As well, gender bias with recording of height and weight has also been noted. Men appear to overestimate their height and women tend to underestimate their weight [31]. The tendencies to overestimate height and underestimate weight were seen with older age groups. Overall in the study by Elgar et al., overweight and obesity was underreported by self-reported BMI compared to objectively measured BMI [31]. Although there is potential response bias in the recording of height and weight and the subsequent categorization of obesity based on BMI calculations from self-reports, we have no reason to believe that there is differential misclassification of the recording of height and weight between farm dwellers and non-farm rural dwellers. To support our findings, several other commonly noted risk factors for obesity consistently reported in other studies were noted here as well.
Our study has demonstrated that rural people not living on farm tend to have an increased risk of obesity. Low socioeconomic status may also increase the risk of obesity, which may be modified by home location. Research should consider this potential misclassification bias when studies of obesity are conducted with rural populations that include farming populations. Interventions should be tailored towards to those with low income and education, especially those not living on farm.