Black-White Disparities in Overweight and Obesity Trends by Educational Attainment in the United States, 1997–2008

Table 1

Sociodemographic, health behavior, and clinical characteristics of National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) participants, according to educational attainment and race/ethnicity, 1997–2008 (𝑁=174,228).

	<HS		HS		>HS		Combined education
	White	Black	White	Black	White	Black	White	Black	Total
Sample size, 𝑁 (%)	11,987 (76)	5,617 (24)	45,174 (85)	11,316 (15)	85,189 (89)	14,945 (11)	142,350 (87)	31,878 (13)	174,228
Age
Mean, year ± SE	50.9 ± 0.15	50.5 ± 0.27	47.4 ± 0.08	43.9 ± 0.15	44.6 ± 0.07	42.1 ± 0.13	46.0 ± 0.05	44.1 ± 0.11	45.8 ± 0.05
Age group—%
25–34	18	18	20	27	25	31	23	28	23
35–49	30	30	39	43	42	43	40	41	40
50–64	29	31	28	23	26	21	27	23	27
65–75	23	21	13	7	7	5	10	8	10
Male	53	46	51	49	51	43	51	46	51
Marital status
Married/living w/partner	59	33	68	41	69	46	68	42	65
Divorced/separated/widowed	28	36	20	27	16	25	18	27	19
Never married	13	31	12	32	15	29	14	31	16
Health behaviors
Ever smoker (yes)	68	58	57	44	42	34	49	41	46
Alcohol consumer
Never	46	50	36	48	24	47	30	48	32
Ever	54	50	64	52	76	53	70	52	68
Leisure-time physical activity
Never/unable	59	67	42	53	24	36	33	47	34
Low	19	17	29	25	38	35	34	29	33
High	22	16	29	22	38	29	34	24	32
Clinical characteristics
Mean BMI (kg/m^2), men	27.9 ± 0.09	27.8 ± 0.13	28.0 ± 0.04	28.2 ± 0.09	27.6 ± 0.03	28.7 ± 0.08	27.7 ± 0.02	28.4 ± 0.06	27.8 ± 0.02
Mean BMI (kg/m^2), women	27.7 ± 0.10	30.6 ± 0.15	27.0 ± 0.05	29.6 ± 0.10	25.9 ± 0.04	29.1 ± 0.09	26.4 ± 0.03	29.5 ± 0.07	26.8 ± 0.03
Overweight/obese (yes)	66	73	65	73	59	72	62	72	63
Obesity (yes)	31	40	28	36	22	35	25	36	26
Health conditions
Hypertension (yes)	34	48	26	32	19	28	23	33	24
Diabetes (yes)	11	16	6	9	4	8	5	9	6
General health status
Excellent/very good	39	32	61	50	77	63	69	54	66
Good	34	32	29	33	18	27	23	30	24
Fair/poor	27	36	10	17	5	10	9	17	10
Region of country
Northeast	15	12	20	13	19	13	19	13	18
Midwest	24	17	30	19	28	20	28	19	27
South	47	67	35	61	33	57	35	60	38
West	14	4	15	7	20	10	18	8	17

Weighted estimates; mean ± SE or (%); SE: standard error; <HS: less than high school, HS: high school, >HS: greater than high school.