Abstract
Increasing interests have been shown in associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and obesity in relation to health inequality. The research objectives were 1) to examine associations between SES and child obesity (including overweight) in Korea over 10 years and 2) to explore possible underlying mechanisms of relationships between SES and obesity. This study used the nationally representative data (KNHA-NES) from 1998, 2005, to 2009. Children (10-18 year-old) were grouped by household income (low, middle-low, middle-high and high) adjusted for the number of family members. Z-scores of height, weight, and BMI for each child were calculated from measured anthropometric data using the 2007 Korean national growth charts. No statistically significant associations were found, however, changes in association patterns were noted. The lower SES group showed shorter height as well as lighter weight among Korean children. More research should be conducted to understand the effects of socioeconomic status on child obesity.
Highlights
Obesity in children has been increasing worldwide [1, 2] and has emerged as a health issue
Using nationally representative data over the span of 10 years (1998-2009), this study investigated the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and obesity in Korean children who aged 10 - 18
The association pattern between SES and obesity in Korea might have changed from the rapid socioeconomic development since 1960s, few studies were conducted to examine relationships between SES and obesity
Summary
Obesity in children has been increasing worldwide [1, 2] and has emerged as a health issue. Childhood obesity is important because it negatively affects children in many aspects of life and because pediatric obesity is linked to a risk to obesity [3,4] and chronic disease such as type 2 diabetes [5] and cardiovascular disease [6,7] in
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