Interaction between education and household wealth on the risk of obesity in women in Egypt

Background: Obesity is a growing problem in lower income countries particularly among women. There are few studies exploring individual socioeconomic status indicators in depth. This study examines the interaction of education and wealth in relation to obesity, hypothesising that education protects against the obesogenic effect of wealth. Methods: Four datasets of women of reproductive age from the Egyptian Demographic and Health Surveys spanning the period 1992-2008 are used to examine two distinct time periods: 1992/95 (N = 11097) and 2005/08 (N = 23178). The association in the two time periods between education level and household wealth in relation to the odds of being obese is examined, and the interaction between the two socioeconomic indicators investigated. Estimates are adjusted for age group and area of residence. Results: An interaction was found between the association of education and wealth with obesity in both time periods (P-value for interaction