How important are determinants of obesity measured at the individual level for explaining geographic variation in body mass index distributions? Observational evidence from Canada using Quantile Regression and Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition

摘要

Background Obesity prevalence varies between geographic regions in Canada. The reasons for this variation are unclear but most likely implicate both individual-level and population-level factors. The objective of this study was to examine whether equalising correlates of body mass index (BMI) across these geographic regions could be reasonably expected to reduce differences in BMI distributions between regions.