Associations between socioeconomic resources and adiposity traits in adults: Evidence from Samoa

In low- and middle-income countries, earlier in economic development, obesity tends to be more prevalent in high socioeconomic resource groups compared to low. Later in development, the distribution of obesity tends to show the opposite pattern, becoming more prevalent in those with low socioeconomic resources. This shift in obesity prevalence tends to occur between a gross national income per capita (GNI) of US$1,000 to $4,000 dollars. Whether a similar pattern occurs in Pacific Island countries has not been well documented. In Samoa, the GNI rose to US$3,200 dollars in 2010 at which time over 80% of adults were overweight or obese. We aimed to understand the association of socioeconomic resources, assessed by household assets, with adult body mass index (BMI) and abdominal circumference (AC) in Samoa. Data were from a genome-wide association study for obesity among 3,370 Samoans aged 24.5-