Obesity, Disability and Self-Perceived Health Outcomes in Australian Adults: A Longitudinal Analysis Using 14 Annual Waves of the HILDA Cohort

Syed Afroz Keramat; Khorshed Alam; Bright Opoku Ahinkorah; Md Sariful Islam; Md Irteja Islam; Md Zobayer Hossain; Sazia Ahmed; Jeff Gow; Stuart J H Biddle

doi:10.2147/CEOR.S318094

Obesity, Disability and Self-Perceived Health Outcomes in Australian Adults: A Longitudinal Analysis Using 14 Annual Waves of the HILDA Cohort

Clinicoecon Outcomes Res. 2021 Sep 7:13:777-788. doi: 10.2147/CEOR.S318094. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Syed Afroz Keramat^{1

2

3}, Khorshed Alam^{1

3}, Bright Opoku Ahinkorah⁴, Md Sariful Islam², Md Irteja Islam^{1

3}, Md Zobayer Hossain⁵, Sazia Ahmed², Jeff Gow^{1

6}, Stuart J H Biddle³

Affiliations

¹ School of Business, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia.
² Economics Discipline, Social Science School, Khulna University, Khulna, 9208, Bangladesh.
³ Centre for Health Research, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia.
⁴ School of Public Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
⁵ Development Studies Discipline, Social Science School, Khulna University, Khulna, 9208, Bangladesh.
⁶ School of Accounting, Economics, and Finance, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 4000, South Africa.

Abstract

Background: Both obesity and disability have been widely recognised as major public health challenges because they play significant roles in determining self-perceived general and mental health. Longitudinal studies of the relationship between obesity and disability with self-reported health outcomes are scarce. Therefore, the objective of the present study is to examine the relationship between obesity and disability with self-perceived general and mental health among Australian adults aged 15 years and above.

Methods: Data were extracted from the most recent 14 waves (waves 6 through 19) of the annual individual person dataset of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey. The longitudinal random-effects logistic regression model was adopted to investigate the relationships between obesity and disability with self-reported health outcomes.

Results: The results revealed that obese individuals and adults with some form of disability are more likely to report poor or fair general and mental health. The odds of self-reporting poor or fair general health were 2.40 and 6.07 times higher among obese (aOR: 2.40, 95% CI: 2.22-2.58) and adults with some form of disability (aOR: 6.07, 95% CI: 5.77-6.39), respectively, relative to adults with healthy weight and those without disability . The results also showed that self-rated poor or fair mental health were 1.22 and 2.40 times higher among obese adults (aOR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.15-1.30) and adults with disability (aOR: 2.40, 95% CI: 2.30-2.51), respectively, compared to their healthy weight peers and peers without disability.

Conclusion: As governmental and non-governmental organisations seek to improve the community's physical and mental well-being, these organisations need to pay particular attention to routine health care prevention, specific interventions, and treatment practices, especially for obese and/or people with disabilities.

Keywords: Australia; disability; mental health; obesity; self-perceived general health.

Grants and funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.