Oportunidades Program Participation and Body Mass Index, Blood Pressure, and Self-Reported Health in Mexican Adults

Details

• Journal Article:
  Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD)
• Personal Author:
  Fernald, Lia C H ; Hou, Xiaohui ; Gertler, Paul J
• Description:
  Introduction
  
  Governments around the world are seeking to address the increasing prevalence of obesity and hypertension. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of an incentive-based development program (Oportunidades, formerly Progresa) on body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, and self-reported health.
  
  Methods
  
  An intervention group of low-income (below the 20th percentile nationally), rural, Mexican adults (aged 30–65 years) (n = 5280) received program benefits (cash transfers contingent on positive changes in health behavior such as regular health checkups) for 3.5 to 5.0 years. They were compared with a newly recruited control group of adults (n = 1063) who had not yet begun receiving benefits. Analyses were adjusted for almost 50 social and economic covariates.
  
  Results
  
  Age- and sex-adjusted BMI was lower in adults from intervention communities than in those from control communities (26.57 kg/m2 vs 27.16 kg/m2, P < .001), as was the prevalence of obesity (20.28% vs 25.31%, P < .001) and overweight (59.24% vs 63.04%, P = .03); these results were attenuated after covariates were included. Adults in intervention communities had a lower combined prevalence of uncontrolled hypertension (33.80% vs 34.52%, P = .008) when adjusting for all covariates. Mean systolic (β = –2.60, P < .001) and diastolic (β = –2.84, P < .001) blood pressures were significantly lower in the intervention communities after all covariates were included, and self-reported health outcomes were better.
  
  Conclusion
  
  Participation in Oportunidades, a large-scale cash-transfer program, was associated with lower prevalence of obesity and hypertension and better self-reported health in adults in rural Mexico.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adult Aged Blood Pressure Body Mass Index Case-Control Studies Female Health Behavior Health Promotion Health Surveys Humans Hypertension Longitudinal Studies Male Middle Aged Obesity Poverty Areas Reward Risk Reduction Behavior Rural Population

  More +
• Source:
  Prev Chronic Dis. 2008; 5(3).
• ISSN:
  1545-1151
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Mexico
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  5
• Issue:
  3
• Collection(s):
  Preventing Chronic Disease
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:845ee0e66d2d6feb84b57a3a9e81695c6028d17b10b594732edc7c238eb6660c227b6288fb9aba73709ede7f8410addad53a4a04cd2d233aee31418672e3dd57
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/20257/cdc_20257_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 596.51 KB ]