Poverty and other correlates of obesity and underweight among 7-year-olds from Croatia and Montenegro

Socioeconomic Status and Rate of Poverty in Overweight and Obesity among Spanish Children and Adolescents

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to analyze the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES), poverty rate, and the prevalence of overweight/obesity or obesity in children and adolescents aged 2-14.

METHODS

Parents or guardians reported the weight and height of participants, used to calculate body mass index (BMI) and BMI z-scores according to the International Obesity Task Force standards. Participants were categorized into "overweight/obesity" and "no overweight/obesity" and further into "obesity" and "no obesity". The rate of poverty rate was determined using data from the National Statistics Institute of Spain, defining it as the percentage of people with income below 60% of the national median. SES was based on the head of household's occupation and categorized into low, medium, and high levels.

RESULTS

Adjusted multilevel models showed participants with medium or high SES had lower odds of overweight/obesity compared to those with low SES (medium SES: odds ratio [OR]: 0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.54-0.73; high SES: OR: 0.59, 95% CI: 0.49-0.70). Participants in the high-poverty group had higher odds of having overweight/obesity (OR: 1.40, 95% CI: 1.13-1.74) compared to the low-poverty group.

CONCLUSIONS

The study highlights significant socioeconomic disparities in childhood overweight/obesity, emphasizing the potential impact of SES and poverty on health outcomes in Spanish children and adolescents.

Intrauterine and Extrauterine Environmental PM2.5 Exposure Is Associated with Overweight/Obesity (O/O) in Children Aged 6 to 59 Months from Lima, Peru: A Case-Control Study

There is evidence that PM2.5 could be obesogenic. Lima is one of the most polluted cities in South America, with an increasing prevalence of childhood obesity. This study aimed to determine the association between PM2.5 exposure of children aged 6 to 59 months and being overweight or obese (O/O) in a significant dataset survey. Cases were defined when weight for height Z-score (WHZ) was >2 standard deviations (SD) from the mean, for each sex. A control was defined when WHZ was between ±2 SD. We used a conditional logistic regression model to calculate the odds ratio (OR) between extrauterine and intrauterine PM2.5 exposure and O/O. Extrauterine PM2.5 exposure was evaluated as a 6-month PM2.5 mean prior to the survey. We found a significant association between O/O and extrauterine (OR: 1.57, 1.51−1.63) and intrauterine (OR: 1.99, 1.88−2.12) PM2.5 exposure for an increment of 10 μg/m3. The ORs increased as the quartile increased in both exposures. We observed a higher association in children aged 6−11 months (OR: 3.07, 2.84−3.31). In conclusion, higher levels of PM2.5 in Lima and Callao were associated with cases of O/O in children from 6 to 59 months, with the association higher for prenatal exposure.