Page 85 - IJPS-8-1

International Journal of
Population Studies Urbanization and body weight

Table 3. Three‑level random‑intercept logistic models of longitudinal associations of urbanicity with overweight and abdominal
obesity in Chinese adults (18–65 years).
Key predictors Overweight Abdominal obesity based on
WC WHpR WHtR
Female sample (n=35,065) (n=30,709) (n=30,203) (n=30,661)
Model 1: Urbanicity index 0.014*** 0.008** −0.002 0.002
(0.003) (0.003) (0.002) (0.003)
Model 2: Standard disaggregation
Between-community component 0.021*** 0.012*** −0.004 0.002
(0.004) (0.003) (0.002) (0.003)
Within-community component 0.010* 0.004 −0.001 0.002
(0.004) (0.005) (0.003) (0.004)
Model 3: Growth curve disaggregation
Between-community component 0.025*** 0.014*** −0.004 0.004
(0.004) (0.003) (0.002) (0.003)
Within-community component 0.007 0.002 −0.001 0.001
(0.005) (0.005) (0.004) (0.004)
Male sample (n=32,309) (n=28,324) (n=27,622) (n=28,280)
Model 1: Urbanicity index 0.029*** 0.021*** 0.007*** 0.015
(0.003) (0.003) (0.002) (0.003)
Model 2: Standard disaggregation
Between-community component 0.048*** 0.035*** 0.012*** 0.023***
(0.003) (0.003) (0.002) (0.003)
Within-community component 0.011* 0.005 0.002 0.007*
(0.005) (0.005) (0.004) (0.004)
Model 3: Growth curve disaggregation
Between-community component *** 0.039*** 0.013*** 0.026***
(0.004) (0.003) (0.002) (0.003)
Within-community component 0.010† 0.002 0.000 0.004
(0.005) (0.005) (0.004) (0.004)
Overweight if body mass index≥24 kg/m . Abdominal obesity if waist circumference (WC) ≥90 cm in men or≥85 cm in women; waist-to-hip ratio
2
(WHpR) ≥0.9 in men or≥0.85 in women; or waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) >0.5. Robust standard errors are in parentheses. All the models adjusted for
age, marital status, education, household income, provincial fixed effects, and time fixed effects. †P<0.1; *P<0.05; **P<0.01; ***P<0.001.
of urbanization (i.e., in situ urbanization of community fat distribution, as well as remarkable within-community
environment versus rural-to-urban migration) and thus urbanization over two decades. After taking into account
empirically conflates preexisting between-community individual- and household-level demographic and
difference and intrinsic within-community change in socioeconomic factors, regression estimates confirmed
relation to body weight gain. From the perspective of a positive longitudinal association between community-
place effects on health, it is the within-community urban level urbanicity and individual-level body weight status,
development that has a direct bearing on the conventional with noteworthy gender differences. For Chinese men,
hypothesis about the relationship between urbanization the positive weight gain-urbanization association holds
and body weight changes. In contrast, between-community irrespective of body weight measure (continuous or
difference may encompass gaps in communities’ baseline dichotomous, general overweight or abdominal obesity).
levels and rates of urbanization in relation to weight gain. For Chinese women, the statistical significance is sensitive
With prospective, longitudinal, and multilevel data, to the choice of body weight measure.
this study documented considerable weight gain among Through disaggregation analysis, the overall longitudinal
Chinese adults with respect to their average body size and association between community-level urbanicity and

Volume 8 Issue 1 (2022) 79 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.v8i1.334