Abstract
BackgroundTo evaluate relationship between socio-economic environment and overweight in Madrid and Barcelona, adjusting for possible confounding factors.MethodsWe obtained three indicators which reflected socio-economic context, namely, unemployment rate, percentage of population with tertiary education, and percentage with a second home. The design is a cross sectional study. The association with overweight was estimated using odds ratios by multilevel logistic regression. The statistical analysis, data synthesis, or model creation was performed from the 2017. In all, 707 children from 21 districts of Madrid and 474 children from 10 districts of Barcelona were analysed.ResultsIn Madrid, standardised ORs for personal and family characteristics were 1.17, 1.53 and 1.57 by reference to unemployment rate and percentages of population with a university education and second home. After adjustment, only the OR obtained with unemployment rate decreased, specifically by 58%. In Barcelona, the following ORs were obtained: 1.80 with unemployment rate; 1.80 with population having a university education; and 1.86 with population having a second home. After being standardised, these ORs decreased by 14% in the case of unemployment rate, 10% in the case of population with a university education, and 9% in the case of population with a second home.ConclusionsOverweight displayed a risk gradient in Madrid and Barcelona alike. This risk of overweight is not accounted for by physical inactivity and could, in part, be due to the availability of sports facilities.
Highlights
To evaluate relationship between socio-economic environment and overweight in Madrid and Barcelona, adjusting for possible confounding factors
Different epidemiological studies on children have reported a negative association between physical activity and Albaladejo et al BMC Pediatrics (2019) 19:307 body mass index (BMI), [5, 11, 12], as well as a direct relationship between the presence of neighbourhood sports facilities and doing physical exercise, [9, 13, 14]
While previous studies undertaken in the USA, Canada and the United Kingdom [14, 27] have shown that people living in underprivileged areas are more inactive, it is likely that they have fewer sports facilities and green areas, [14, 28], and that this availability varies from city to city, [14]
Summary
To evaluate relationship between socio-economic environment and overweight in Madrid and Barcelona, adjusting for possible confounding factors. The principal cause of weight gain is known to be an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure, [3], where regulation of food intake in sedentary individuals is different to that in active individuals, [10]. In this equilibrium there is a threshold of physical activity: under it, body weight increases even at low calorie intakes; above it, small changes in exercise will suffice to maintain weight, even when calorie consumption increases, [4]. Whereas some authors have found an association between sports facilities or parks and a decreased risk of excess weight, [15,16,17], other studies have failed to observe this association, [4, 14, 18,19,20,21]
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