Weight status in an indigenous community in Oaxaca, Mexico: longitudinal observations from 1968, 1978, and 2000

Abstract

In order to track weight status in samples of children, teenagers and adults observed longitudinally on two or three occasions in surveys of an indigenous community in Oaxaca in 1968, 1978 and 2000, and to evaluate changes in weight status relative to estimates for the total samples in the three surveys, heights and weights were measured among school children in 1968 and 1978, and among children, adolescents and adults in 1978 and 2000. Cross-checks of surnames, forenames and ages/dates of birth of participants in the three surveys identified three samples measured on two occasions (1968-1978, youth and adults in 1978-2000) and a subsample measured in the three surveys. The body mass index was used to classify individuals as thin, normal, overweight or obese, according to international criteria. Trends in the longitudinal subsamples indicated stability of weight status from 1968 to 1978, but relative instability between 1978 and 2000, most often a shift from normal to overweight and obesity status. The changes in weight status likely reflected conditions in the community associated with the epidemiologic transition in the mid-1980s and the nutritional transition which was in process during the 2000 survey.

Keywords: overweight, obesity, nutritional transition, bmi.