Socioeconomic disadvantage is linked to obesity across generations, UK study finds
BMJ 2017; 356 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.j163 (Published 11 January 2017) Cite this as: BMJ 2017;356:j163Socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood or as an adult is associated with higher body mass index (BMI) that persists with age and over different generations, longitudinal data from three national British birth cohorts of people born in 1946, 1958, and 1970 have shown.1
Previous studies have found that people with lower socioeconomic resources, both as children and adults, are more likely to have a higher BMI and increased risk of obesity in adulthood. The links between higher BMI and poorer health have prompted efforts to reduce inequalities in socioeconomic position and BMI to improve health, but data on how these factors change over time are limited.
Researchers analysed three national birth cohorts of people born in 1946, 1958, and 1970, which included comparable data on their social class in childhood and adulthood and their BMI throughout life. They studied a total of 22 810 participants with 77 115 BMI recordings and their socioeconomic position, looking at the father’s occupational social class when each child was aged 10-11 and at their own occupational social class at the age of 42-43.
The results, reported in PLoS Medicine, showed that inequalities in child and adult socioeconomic position were associated with large inequalities in BMI, and these inequalities became progressively larger at older ages in all cohorts. This association was particularly marked in women in the most recent birth cohort.
For example, women in the lowest socioeconomic class had a mean BMI at age 42-43 that was 2.0 kg/m2 higher than in those in the highest class (95% confidence interval –0.1 to +4.0) in the 1946 birth cohort; 2.3 kg/m2 higher (1.1 to 3.4) in the 1958 cohort; and 3.9 kg/m2 higher (2.3 to 5.4) in the 1970 cohort.
“Given these persisting inequalities and their public health implications, new and effective policies to reduce inequalities in adult BMI that tackle inequality with respect to both childhood and adult socioeconomic position are urgently required,” said the researchers, led by David Bann, at the UCL Institute of Education’s Centre for Longitudinal Studies in London, UK.
They added, “Results support the need to intervene earlier rather than later in adult life, since inequalities tend to become larger at older ages.”
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