Abstract
BackgroundThe pattern of obesity in relation to socioeconomic status is of public health concern. This study investigates whether the association between height and obesity in children is affected by their socioeconomic background. It also explores the relationship between high birth weight and obesity.MethodsSchool children, (N = 557; 5 to 12 years old) were recruited from randomly selected primary schools in a cross-sectional study including 173 rural and 384 urban children in the North West Region of Cameroon. Socioeconomic status (SES) and birth weight were obtained using a self administered questionnaire. Anthropometric measures included height, weight, BMI, waist circumference and percentage body fat. These measures were transformed into age and sex-standardized variables. Then participants were divided according to quartiles of height SDS.ResultsThe highest frequencies of overweight/obesity (18.8%), abdominal overweight/obesity (10.9%) and high body fat/obesity (12.3%) were observed among the tallest children from a high socioeconomic background. Univariate analyses indicate that children of high SES (39.9%), fourth height quartile (33.1%) and of high birth weight (54.8%) were significantly (p < 0.001) more likely to be overweight/obese. Multivariate analyses showed high SES (OR 8.3, 95% CI 3.9 – 15.4), fourth height quartile (OR 9.1, 95% CI 3.4 – 16.7) and high birth weight (OR 0.1, 95% CI 0.06 – 0.2) as independent predictors of overweight/obesity.ConclusionsThis study confirms that children coming from a high socioeconomic background and being tall are at particular risk of becoming obese.
Highlights
The pattern of obesity in relation to socioeconomic status is of public health concern
The aim of this study is to explore the interactions between socioeconomic status (SES), height and obesity and test the hypothesis that the height-obesity association is greater in schoolage children from a high socioeconomic background
Subjects The data used in this study were collected crosssectionally between February and June 2012, from children living and attending primary education in the North West Region of Cameroon including a mix of socioeconomic groups from rural and urban populations
Summary
The pattern of obesity in relation to socioeconomic status is of public health concern. This study investigates whether the association between height and obesity in children is affected by their socioeconomic background It explores the relationship between high birth weight and obesity. The escalating numbers of children affected with overweight and obesity remains a global challenge [1] This has continued to be a mounting concern among researchers as studies using different obesity parameters have shown that obesity increases the risk of adverse health outcomes including cardiovascular diseases [2], certain cancers, psychological problems and diabetes [3]. A review had indicated the contribution of socioeconomic background to social inequalities in the distribution of the frequency of obesity [13] This indicates that overweight and obesity involves a complex interaction between many variables in childhood, adulthood and old age. The majority of the studies above have been carried out in developed countries
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