Socioeconomic factors and childhood overweight in Europe: results from the multi‐centre IDEFICS study

Pediatric obesity - Tập 8 Số 1 - Trang 1-12 - 2013
Karin Bammann1,2, Wencke Gwozdz3, A Lanfer1, Gianvincenzo Barba4, Stefaan De Henauw5, Gabriele Eiben6, Juan Miguel Fernández-Alvira7, Éva Kovács8, Lauren Lissner6, Luís A. Moreno7, Michael Tornaritis9, Toomas Veidebaum10, Iris Pigeot1
1BIPS Institute for Epidemiology and Prevention Research, Bremen, Germany
2Institute for Public Health and Nursing Research, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
3Department of Intercultural Communication and Management, Copenhagen Business School, Frederiksberg, Denmark,
4Epidemiology and Population Genetics Institute of Food Science, National Research Council Avellino Italy
5Department of Public Health, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium
6Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
7Growth, Exercise, Nutrition and Development (GENUD) Research Group, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
8Department of Pediatrics, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
9Research and Education Institute of Child health, Strovolos, Cyprus
10Department of Chronic Diseases, National Institute for Health Development, Tallinn, Estonia

Tóm tắt

Summary What is already known about this subject Overweight and obesity can be linked to different parental socioeconomic factors already in very young children. In Western developed countries, the association of childhood overweight and obesity and parental socioeconomic status shows a negative gradient. Ambiguous results have been obtained regarding the association between socioeconomic factors and childhood overweight and obesity in different countries and over time. What this study adds European regions show heterogeneous associations between socioeconomic factors and overweight and obesity in a multi‐centre study with highly standardized study protoco. The strength of association between SES and overweight and obesity varies across European regions. In our study, the SES gradient is correlated with the regional mean income and the country‐specific Human development index indicating a strong influence not only of the family but also of region and country on the overweight and obesity prevalence. ObjectiveTo assess the association between different macro‐ and micro‐level socioeconomic factors and childhood overweight.MethodsData from the IDEFICS baseline survey is used to investigate the cross‐sectional association between socioeconomic factors, like socioeconomic status (SES), and the prevalence of childhood overweight. Differences and similarities regarding this relationship in eight European regions (located in Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Sweden) are explored. 11 994 children (50.9% boys, 49.1% girls) and their parents were included in the analyses.ResultsIn five of the eight investigated regions (in Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Spain and Sweden), the prevalence of childhood overweight followed an inverse SES gradient. In the other three regions (in Cyprus, Hungary and Italy), no association between SES and childhood overweight was found. The SES‐overweight association in a region was best explained by the country‐specific human development index and the centre‐specific mean income. For the investigated association between other socioeconomic factors and overweight, no clear pattern could be found in the different regions.ConclusionThe association between socioeconomic factors and childhood overweight was shown to be heterogeneous across different European regions. Further research on nationwide European data is needed to confirm the results and to identify target groups for prevention.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

10.1093/epirev/mxm001

10.1037/0033-2909.105.2.260

10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.08.040

10.1093/eurpub/12.4.263

10.1038/oby.2007.35

10.1080/17477160600569339

10.1038/ijo.2010.222

10.1038/oby.2006.161

10.1016/j.ehb.2008.06.003

10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.08.056

Marmot MG, 2006, Social determinants of health

10.3109/17477166.2011.583659

10.1080/17477160801970278

10.1038/ijo.2011.30

10.1007/s10389-006-0058-0

United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute for Statistics, 2006, International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) 1997

Harrison E, 2006, The European Socioeconomic Classification (ESeC). User Guide

Organization for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD), 2008, Growing Unequal? Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD Countries

Eurostat, 2002, Euopean Social Statistics. Income, Poverty and Social Exclusion: 2nd Report. Data 1994–1997

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 2008, Human Development Indices: A Statistical Update

10.1136/bmj.320.7244.1240

10.1136/bmj.39238.399444.55

10.1080/17477160600943351

10.1080/17477160802141846

10.1016/j.annepidem.2008.05.001

10.1186/1471-2458-10-733

10.1186/1471-2458-5-45

10.3109/17477166.2010.500387

10.1038/ijo.2011.34

10.1016/j.annepidem.2009.09.008

10.1038/sj.ijo.0802798

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Pediatric obesity

Tập 8 Số 1

1-12

Thông tin tác giả