[Hockenbrizzle]

Hi folks,

I am a bit confused about a citation given in this opinion piece and ask for your help. In paragraph 5, the author mentions the effect of manual labor and cites an article published in the International Journal of Surgery Oncology. In this article they state that:

"Adults working in unskilled manual profession are over 4 times more likely to be classified as morbidly obese compared with those in professional employments",

and they show a graph to support this. However, the graph seems to show the opposite. I looks like males who perform manual labor have a lower prevalence of obesity than those of non-manual labor. Am I reading this wrong?

[mayoff]

You're not wrong. The graphs (figures 7 and 8) don't match the numbers. I think the graphs are mislabeled.

[Hockenbrizzle]

But even if the graphs are mislabeled, the numbers don't agree with the statement. The 2010 data for prevalence of obese men shows an increase from 27% to 29%... without error bars given. In what world does that translate to "over 4 times more likely to be classified as morbidly obese"?