Associations between socioeconomic status and risk of obesity and overweight among Chinese children and adolescents

BMC Public Health

Research

Youzhi Ke¹  Yueran Hao¹  Shikun Zhang¹  Yang Liu² 

[1] School of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China;School of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China;Shanghai Research Center for Physical Fitness and Health of Children and Adolescents, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China;

关键词: Socioeconomic status;    Overweight;    Obesity;    Body mass index;    Youth;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-023-15290-x

 received in 2022-10-21, accepted in 2023-02-20,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIn China, the threat of obesity and overweight in children and adolescents is developing quickly. It may be possible to lower the risk of obesity and overweight in children and adolescents by understanding the factors that drive these conditions. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association between SES and risk of obesity and overweight among children and adolesecnts in China’s provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, and Shanghai.MethodsChinese children and adolescents (n = 2,746; 46.3% boys) were recruited using multistage sampling. SES was measured using self-reported questionnaires, the specific indicators were parental education, perceived family wealth, and Family Affluence Scale II. Height and weight were measured and used to calculate body mass index (BMI, categorized into obesity or overweight). The definition of obesity or overweight was based on the Chinese standard "Screening for obesity and overweight among school-age children and adolescents". Descriptive statistics, independent sample t-tests, and a Chi-square test were used to report the sample characteristics and analyse BMI differences across different sociodemographic groups. A binary logistic regression was then applied to analyse the association of SES indicators with BMI in children and adolescents.ResultsOverall, 22.5% of children and adolescents were obese or overweight. Participants with medium and high maternal education levels were 1.48 [95% CI 1.15–1.91] and 1.47 [95% CI 1.03–2.11] times more likely to be obese/overweight. Girls with medium maternal education levels were 1.70[95% CI 1.21–2.40] times more likely to be obese/overweight. For boys, no association was observed. Junior middle school students with medium maternal education levels were 1.51[95% CI 1.10–2.07] times more likely to be obese/overweight. Participants with medium or high FAS, perceived family wealth, or paternal education levels were not associated with obesity/overweight.ConclusionsThe findings of this study indicated a positive association between SES and risk of overweight/obesity in girls, suggesting that maternal education level may have a substantial impact on future prevention efforts for these conditions in girls. To increase the effectiveness of interventions, longitudinal studies are necessary to better understand the causal association between SES and obesity/overweight.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

【 图 表 】

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