Health in Context: Urbanization, Weight Gain, and Future Health in Indonesia

Alka Dev, CUNY Institute for Demographic Research (CIDR)
Jennifer Brite, City University of New York (CUNY)
Deborah L. Balk, CUNY Institute for Demographic Research (CIDR)
Frank Heiland, Baruch College, City University of New York (CUNY)

Indonesia has undergone a nutrition transition resulting in higher rates of overweight and obesity in the past two decades. The trend is directly attributable to changes in food consumption patterns and decreasing physical activity in urban and rural areas. We examine the Indonesian Family Life Survey panel data (1993-2007) to determine if: a) early life overweight and obesity predict later life overweight and obesity, b) urbanization is associated with higher overweight and obesity rates, and c) overweight or obesity elevate biomarker risk. We construct logistic regression models to test whether being overweight or obese at age 25 predicts BMI category after age 35. We further use community geocodes to test for the contribution of urbanization to shares of overweight and obesity in urban and rural areas. Finally, we predict the odds of elevated risk for blood pressure (BP) and other biomarkers by BMI at age 25 and current BMI.