Obesity in Mexico: prevalence, comorbidities, associations with patient outcomes, and treatment experiences

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographic and health history differences across BMI categories (N=2,476)

	BMI category				P value
	Normal weight (18.5–<25) (n=901)	Overweight (25–<30) (n=962)	Obese class I (30–<35) (n=425)	Obese class II–III (35+) (n=188)
Sex					<0.001
Male, n (%)	422 (46.84%)	548 (56.96%)	199 (46.82%)	92 (48.94%)
Female, n (%)	479 (53.16%)	414 (43.04%)	226 (53.18%)	96 (51.06%)
Age					<0.001
Mean±SD	37.52±14.06	42.05±14.41	43.86±14.67	42.82±13.68
Marital status					<0.001
Single, n (%)	411 (45.62%)	338 (35.14%)	136 (32.00%)	61 (32.45%)
Married/living with partner, n (%)	490 (54.38%)	624 (64.86%)	289 (68.00%)	127 (67.55%)
Employment status					0.455
Not currently employed, n (%)	226 (25.08%)	218 (22.66%)	105 (24.71%)	51 (27.13%)
Employed, n (%)	675 (74.92%)	744 (77.34%)	320 (75.29%)	137 (72.87%)
Highest level of education					0.040
Less than university degree, n (%)	359 (39.84%)	389 (40.44%)	197 (46.35%)	87 (46.28%)
University degree, n (%)	542 (60.16%)	573 (59.56%)	228 (53.65%)	101 (53.72%)
Socioeconomic status					0.884
AB, n (%)	367 (40.73%)	394 (40.96%)	166 (39.06%)	77 (40.96%)
C+, n (%)	297 (32.96%)	328 (34.10%)	151 (35.53%)	60 (31.91%)
C, n (%)	129 (14.32%)	122 (12.68%)	54 (12.71%)	23 (12.23%)
C−, n (%)	62 (6.88%)	66 (6.86%)	35 (8.24%)	15 (7.98%)
D+, n (%)	37 (4.11%)	39 (4.05%)	15 (3.53%)	9 (4.79%)
D, n (%)	9 (1.00%)	13 (1.35%)	4 (0.94%)	4 (2.13%)
Health behaviors
Smoking behavior					0.274
Current smoker, n (%)	286 (31.74%)	269 (27.96%)	110 (25.88%)	54 (28.72%)
Former smoker, n (%)	327 (36.29%)	393 (40.85%)	181 (42.59%)	74 (39.36%)
Never smoker, n (%)	288 (31.96%)	300 (31.19%)	134 (31.53%)	60 (31.91%)
Days exercised in the past month					<0.001
Mean±SD	9.92±9.15	8.93±8.89	7.18±8.18	6.71±8.04
Alcohol use frequency					0.083
Daily, n (%)	7 (0.78%)	16 (1.66%)	2 (0.47%)	0 (0.00%)
4–6 times a week, n (%)	17 (1.89%)	17 (1.77%)	7 (1.65%)	3 (1.60%)
2–3 times a week, n (%)	79 (8.77%)	75 (7.80%)	21 (4.94%)	12 (6.38%)
Once a week, n (%)	152 (16.87%)	164 (17.05%)	76 (17.88%)	25 (13.30%)
2–3 times a month, n (%)	144 (15.98%)	151 (15.70%)	60 (14.12%)	23 (12.23%)
Once a month or less often, n (%)	297 (32.96%)	307 (31.91%)	133 (31.29%)	64 (34.04%)
I do not drink alcohol, n (%)	205 (22.75%)	232 (24.12%)	126 (29.65%)	61 (32.45%)
Charlson Comorbidity Index					<0.001
Mean±SD	0.94±2.34	1.14±1.85	1.68±2.13	2.03±2.26
Comorbidities
T2DM, n (%)	204 (24.91%)	344 (42.00%)	163 (19.90%)	108 (13.19%)	<0.001
Prediabetes, n (%)	39 (9.18%)	172 (40.47%)	163 (38.35%)	51 (12.00%)	<0.001
Hypertension, n (%)	229 (25.59%)	328 (36.65%)	217 (9.27%)	121 (13.52%)	<0.001

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; T2DM, type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Table 2 Regression-adjusted health outcome differences across BMI categories (N=2,476)

Dependent variable	BMI group	Adjusted mean	SE	95% LCL	95% UCL	P value
EQ-5D: VAS	Overweight (25–<30)	81.85	0.38	81.09	82.60	<0.0001
EQ-5D: VAS	Obese class I (30–<35)	79.62	0.58	78.48	80.77	<0.0001
EQ-5D: VAS	Obese class II–III (35+)	77.33	0.87	75.62	79.05	<0.0001
EQ-5D: VAS	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	84.23	0.40	83.44	85.02
EQ-5D: health utility	Overweight (25–<30)	0.83	0.00	0.82	0.84	0.0187
EQ-5D: health utility	Obese class I (30–<35)	0.82	0.01	0.80	0.83	0.0003
EQ-5D: health utility	Obese class II–III (35+)	0.78	0.01	0.76	0.80	<0.0001
EQ-5D: health utility	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	0.85	0.01	0.84	0.86
Absenteeism % (WPAI-GH)	Overweight (25–<30)	5.05	0.52	4.13	6.17	0.5533
Absenteeism % (WPAI-GH)	Obese class I (30–<35)	4.66	0.73	3.42	6.33	0.9695
Absenteeism % (WPAI-GH)	Obese class II–III (35+)	5.29	1.27	3.31	8.48	0.6097
Absenteeism % (WPAI-GH)	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	4.62	0.50	3.74	5.71
Presenteeism % (WPAI-GH)	Overweight (25–<30)	17.65	0.91	15.95	19.53	0.2509
Presenteeism % (WPAI-GH)	Obese class I (30–<35)	20.94	1.65	17.94	24.44	0.0080
Presenteeism % (WPAI-GH)	Obese class II–III (35+)	23.24	2.81	18.34	29.45	0.0069
Presenteeism % (WPAI-GH)	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	16.18	0.89	14.53	18.02
Overall work impairment % (WPAI-GH)	Overweight (25–<30)	20.34	0.99	18.48	22.39	0.2898
Overall work impairment % (WPAI-GH)	Obese class I (30–<35)	23.29	1.74	20.11	26.97	0.0219
Overall work impairment % (WPAI-GH)	Obese class II–III (35+)	25.81	2.95	20.62	32.30	0.0134
Overall work impairment % (WPAI-GH)	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	18.85	0.98	17.02	20.88
Activity impairment % (WPAI-GH)	Overweight (25–<30)	18.31	0.89	16.64	20.14	0.0380
Activity impairment % (WPAI-GH)	Obese class I (30–<35)	20.83	1.54	18.01	24.09	0.0023
Activity impairment % (WPAI-GH)	Obese class II–III (35+)	24.82	2.82	19.87	31.00	0.0003
Activity impairment % (WPAI-GH)	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	15.78	0.82	14.26	17.46
Number of provider visits (past 6 months)	Overweight (25–<30)	3.22	0.11	3.02	3.44	0.4151
Number of provider visits (past 6 months)	Obese class I (30–<35)	3.40	0.17	3.08	3.75	0.1319
Number of provider visits (past 6 months)	Obese class II–III (35+)	3.73	0.27	3.23	4.31	0.0235
Number of provider visits (past 6 months)	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	3.09	0.11	2.88	3.32
Number of ER visits (past 6 months)	Overweight (25–<30)	0.29	0.03	0.24	0.34	0.1414
Number of ER visits (past 6 months)	Obese class I (30–<35)	0.35	0.05	0.28	0.46	0.0126
Number of ER visits (past 6 months)	Obese class II–III (35+)	0.26	0.05	0.18	0.39	0.6042
Number of ER visits (past 6 months)	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	0.24	0.02	0.19	0.29
Number of hospitalizations (past 6 months)	Overweight (25–<30)	0.17	0.02	0.14	0.21	0.3924
Number of hospitalizations (past 6 months)	Obese class I (30–<35)	0.22	0.03	0.17	0.30	0.4247
Number of hospitalizations (past 6 months)	Obese class II–III (35+)	0.22	0.05	0.14	0.33	0.6233
Number of hospitalizations (past 6 months)	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	0.19	0.02	0.15	0.24

Notes: All models were controlled for sex, age, marital status, education, exercise frequency, and the CCI. P<0.05.

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; SE, standard error; LCL, lower confidence limit; UCL, upper confidence limit; EQ-5D, EuroQoL-5D; VAS, visual analog scale; WPAI-GH, Work Productivity and Activity Impairment – General Health; ER, emergency room; CCI, Charlson Comorbidity Index.

Table 3 Regression-adjusted health outcome differences across BMI categories among those with T2DM, prediabetes, and hypertension

Dependent variable	BMI group	T2DM (n=819)			Prediabetes (n=425)			Hypertension (n=825)
		Adjusted mean	95% CI	P value	Adjusted mean	95% CI	P value	Adjusted mean	95% CI	P value
EQ-5D: VAS	Overweight (25–<30)	78.07	76.71–79.42	0.8418	82.64	79.26–86.02	0.6453	78.06	76.66–79.46	0.0008
	Obese class I (30–<35)	75.98	74.00–77.96	0.090	79.79	76.30–83.28	0.0898	77.06	75.34–78.78	0.0001
	Obese class II–III (35+)	75.48	73.08–77.87	0.0649	76.66	72.26–81.06	0.0108	74.95	72.65–77.26	<.0001
	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	78.29	76.52–80.07		83.65	78.85–88.44		81.84	80.15–83.54
EQ-5D: health utility	Overweight (25–<30)	0.80	0.79–0.82	0.5873	0.84	0.79–0.88	0.5398	0.79	0.78–0.81	0.1221
	Obese class I (30–<35)	0.77	0.75–0.79	0.0172	0.83	0.78–0.87	0.353	0.77	0.75–0.80	0.0079
	Obese class II–III (35+)	0.76	0.73–0.79	0.0043	0.76	0.71–0.81	0.0067	0.74	0.72–0.77	<.0001
	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	0.81	0.79–0.83		0.85	0.79–0.91		0.81	0.79–0.84
Absenteeism %	Overweight (25–<30)	7.86	6.10–10.15	0.8587	–	–	–	7.11	5.52–9.16	0.3639
	Obese class I (30–<35)	7.38	5.09–10.71	0.6908	–	–	–	6.71	4.91–9.18	0.5701
	Obese class II–III (35+)	8.06	5.07–12.79	0.9644	–	–	–	5.81	3.77–8.95	0.9525
	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	8.16	5.91–11.28		–	–	–	5.91	4.36–8.01
Presenteeism %	Overweight (25–<30)	22.97	20–26.37	0.4691	15.04	8.49–26.65	0.3674	23.39	20.4–26.81	0.6156
	Obese class I (30–<35)	28.24	23.05–34.59	0.3719	21.33	11.81–38.53	0.0614	27.48	23.2–32.54	0.075
	Obese class II–III (35+)	26.59	20.64–34.27	0.6934	39.12	18.16–84.3	0.0033	28.14	22.24–35.6	0.1067
	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	24.96	20.87–29.85		10.99	5.19–23.3		22.13	18.77–26.1
Overall work impairment %	Overweight (25–<30)	26.62	23.44–30.23	0.2985	18.48	10.51–32.5	0.2601	27.17	23.89–30.9	0.5143
	Obese class I (30–<35)	31.55	26.17–38.03	0.6386	24.6	13.69–44.18	0.0548	30.66	26.15–35.94	0.0999
	Obese class II–III (35+)	30.49	24.15–38.5	0.8618	40.14	18.81–85.69	0.0063	31.4	25.17–39.16	0.1299
	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	29.72	25.21–35.04		12.49	5.95–26.21		25.4	21.75–29.66
Activity impairment %	Overweight (25–<30)	23.94	21.12–27.13	0.8742	15.12	8.42–27.17	0.4741	23.40	20.61–26.56	0.5419
	Obese class I (30–<35)	28.88	24.09–34.62	0.0982	15.84	8.8–28.51	0.4129	28.30	24.22–33.07	0.0247
	Obese class II–III (35+)	30.25	24.12–37.93	0.0793	28.87	13.59–61.33	0.0411	32.38	26.09–40.18	0.0047
	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	23.55	20.09–27.61		11.69	5.4–25.3		21.99	18.9–25.6
Number of provider visits	Overweight (25–<30)	4.21	3.84–4.62	0.124	2.75	2.14–3.54	0.7135	3.96	3.6–4.37	0.5938
	Obese class I (30–<35)	4.87	4.27–5.55	0.7715	2.84	2.21–3.66	0.5945	4.13	3.68–4.65	0.9957
	Obese class II–III (35+)	4.79	4.09–5.62	0.9137	3.12	2.26–4.3	0.3667	4.46	3.82–5.21	0.4361
	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	4.74	4.21–5.34		2.59	1.8–3.73		4.13	3.68–4.64
Number of ER visits	Overweight (25–<30)	0.42	0.33–0.55	0.9373	0.16	0.07–0.37	0.5282	0.46	0.36–0.6	0.1387
	Obese class I (30–<35)	0.72	0.52–0.98	0.0271	0.23	0.1–0.53	0.2616	0.58	0.43–0.78	0.0161
	Obese class II–III (35+)	0.41	0.27–0.63	0.8506	0.22	0.08–0.61	0.3459	0.34	0.21–0.52	0.97
	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	0.43	0.31–0.6		0.10	0.02–0.42		0.34	0.24–0.47
Number of hospitalizations	Overweight (25–<30)	0.27	0.2–0.35	0.0366	0.11	0.05–0.28	0.2057	0.29	0.21–0.39	0.765
	Obese class I (30–<35)	0.49	0.36–0.68	0.3783	0.14	0.05–0.36	0.328	0.36	0.26–0.51	0.5188
	Obese class II–III (35+)	0.31	0.2–0.48	0.3045	0.19	0.06–0.6	0.6293	0.28	0.17–0.46	0.7473
	Normal weight (18.5–<25)	0.41	0.3–0.55		0.27	0.07–1.03		0.31	0.22–0.44

Notes: All models were controlled for sex, age, marital status, education, exercise frequency, and the CCI. The absenteeism model failed to converge in the prediabetes subsample. P<0.05. ‘–’ indicates non-convergence.

Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; T2DM, type 2 diabetes mellitus; EQ-5D EuroQoL-5D; VAS, visual analog scale; ER, emergency room; CCI, Charlson Comorbidity Index.

Table 4 Treatments ever and currently used by those taking steps to lose weight (n=1,561)

	Ever used		Currently using
	n	%	n	%
Exercise	1,246	79.82	994	79.78
Dieting	1,023	65.53	808	78.98
Herbal products	430	27.55	210	48.84
Consulting a specialist	429	27.48	189	44.06
Gym memberships	397	25.43	161	40.55
Diet supplements	375	24.02	155	41.33
OTC 60 mg orlistat	297	19.03	83	27.95
Prescription medication	267	17.10	92	34.46
Redustat (120 mg orlistat)	124	46.44	36	29.03
Redotex (atropine+norpseudo ephedrine+diazepam+triiodoth yronine)	90	33.71	27	30.00
Solucaps (mazindol)	46	17.23	11	23.91
Lindeza (120 mg orlistat)	42	15.73	9	21.43
Asenlix (clobenzorex)	38	14.23	7	18.42
Terfamez (phentermine)	36	13.48	14	38.89
Obeclox (clobenzorex)	22	8.24	5	22.73
Other prescription medication	58	21.72	16	27.59
Joining weight management program	90	5.77	29	32.22
Surgical bariatric procedure	28	1.79	15	53.57
Other	47	3.01	39	82.98

Note: “Currently using” percentages are based on those who “ever used” the given method (e.g., 79.78% of those who ever used exercise are currently using exercise).

Abbreviation: OTC, over-the-counter.