Ethnic inequalities in health: socioeconomy, tobacco use, and obesity.

摘要

Tony Blakely and colleagues' view on ethnic inequalities in health (July 1, p 44)1 is reasonable and probably right: differences in socioeconomic position and tobacco use are major contributors to inequalities. We would like to raise another factor as a critical contributor to inequalities in health: obesity.Obesity is increasing worldwide, and its prevalence and associated morbidities are greatly influenced by ethnic background.Furthermore, obesity often coexists with smoking, especially among lower socioeconomic groups. Therefore, these three factors-ie, socioeconomic position, smoking, and obesity-should be the major target of research and of strategies to redress ethnic inequalities in health.We declare that we have no conflict of interest.