Abstract P254: The Influence of Socioeconomic Status on Childhood Obesity and Familial Hypercholesterolemia

Abstract

Introduction: Childhood obesity is a global epidemic with implications of future health problems including dyslipidemia. Recent studies suggest that socioeconomic status (SES) is inversely associated with adolescent weight in developed countries. No such patterns have been found linking SES with Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH), which is an inherited disorder of high low-density lipoproteins (LDL) cholesterol, associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease. The goal of this study was to explore parental SES associations with childhood obesity and FH in a rural Appalachian population. Methods: Data included 52,002 5th grade children from the Coronary Artery Risk Detection in Appalachian Communities (CARDIAC) project. Body Mass Index (BMI) was defined as the percentage difference from median BMI (BMI%diff) corrected for age and gender. LDL was obtained via fasting lipid profiles. FH was defined as LDL ≥190mg/dl. SES was determined by self-reported head of household education level (including 8th grade education, some high school, high school graduate or GED, some college, college graduate, and completed graduate school). Analysis included ANOVAs with pairwise comparisons using Tukey’s HSD and nonparametric procedures. Results: There was a clear inverse relationship between SES and obesity as shown in Figure 1; all pairwise comparisons were significant (p<0.0001). The prevalence of FH was 0.2%; there were no significant association with the SES groups. Conclusion: There was a significant relationship between higher weight status (after controlling for age and gender) and lower SES, but no moderating relationship of SES on FH. The prevalence of obesity is generally higher in Appalachian children than the rest of the country; identifying modifiable risk factors play an important role in treatment. Targeting initiatives to combat childhood obesity within the context of SES may be the optimal approach leading to better future outcomes - especially in children with additional co- morbidities like FH.