Background

In South Asia, women were reported to be more likely to have higher normal body weight. However, nationally representative evidence on the association between socioeconomic status and body weight in terms of regional cut-offs for body mass index is limited for South Asian women. This study aimed to address this gap by investigating the association between household wealth status and overweight and obesity among adult women in Bangladesh and Nepal.
Methodology

Cross-sectional data on 6,144 Nepalese and 17,683 Bangladeshi women were obtained from most recent Demographic and Health Surveys in these countries. Cut-offs for overweight and obesity were defined as per World Health Organization recommendation for South Asian population.