Economic Change and Health in Poland
The political and economic changes which most Central European nations are currently undergoing are having profound impacts on nutritional health. The effect of the social and economic environment on the prevalence of obesity has been widely documented for industrialised countries, initially in North America and Western Europe, and more recently in Eastern Europe . In Poland , a significant prevalence of obesity was identified in the 1960's, which increased into the 1970's with generally higher levels of obesity among women than men. Obesity in adults was also shown to be more prevalent among those of higher educational status than those with lower education levels.
This is in contrast to the countries of Western Europe , where people with higher social and educational status have lower prevalence of obesity and fatness than people with lower social and educational status. The social distribution of obesity prior to the economic transition may reflect positive cultural and social attributes associated with fatness at that time. It is anticipated that with economic development, a social distribution of obesity and fatness, which is similar to that of Western Europe may emerge.
Using a unique data set which pre-dates the fall of state socialism, this study examines associations between socioeconomic status and childhood obesity in the Wroclaw population, including age at onset of obesity, with the aim of developing growth monitoring techniques for the early detection of obesity in the Polish population. This collaboration of Prof Stanley Ulijaszek is with the Institute of Anthropology , Polish Academy of Sciences.