Social Patterning in Adiposity in Adolescence: Prospective Observations from the Chinese Birth Cohort ''Children of 1997''

PLoS One. 2016 Jan 6;11(1):e0146198. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0146198. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Introduction: Low early life socio-economic position is more strongly associated with adiposity among women than men. We examined whether the sex difference of social patterning in general and central adiposity exists before adulthood.

Methods: In Hong Kong's "Children of 1997" birth cohort, we used multivariable regression to examine the association of parental education, a marker of early life socio-economic position, with body mass index (BMI) (n = 7252, 88% follow-up) and waist-height ratio (n = 5636, 68% follow-up), at 14 years.

Results: Parental education of Grade 9 or below, compared to Grade 12 or above, was associated with higher waist-height ratio z-score particularly in girls (0.30, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.19, 0.41) compared to boys (0.12, 95% CI 0.02, 0.22) (p for sex interaction = 0.02). Lower parental education was associated with greater BMI z-score in adolescents of locally born mothers, but not adolescents of migrant mothers, with no difference by sex.

Conclusions: Different social patterning in different markers of adiposity may imply different sociological and biological mediating pathways. A stronger association between low early life socio-economic position and waist-height ratio in adolescent girls may indicate sex-specific influences of SEP related early life exposures on central adiposity.

Publication types

  • Observational Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adiposity*
  • Adolescent
  • China / epidemiology
  • Cohort Studies
  • Educational Status
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Pediatric Obesity / epidemiology*
  • Pediatric Obesity / pathology
  • Social Class
  • Waist-Height Ratio

Grants and funding

This work is a sub-study of the “Children of 1997” birth cohort which was initially supported by the Health Care and Promotion Fund, Health and Welfare Bureau, Government of the Hong Kong SAR [HCPF Grant # 216106] and re-established in 2005 with support from the Health and Health Services Research Fund [HHSRF Grant # 03040771], and the University Research Committee Strategic Research Theme (SRT) of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong. This sub-study builds on information added to the birth cohort by RFCID grant # 04050172 and HHSRF grant # 08090761, and was funded by the Health and Health Services Research Fund [HHSRF Grant # 09101061], Government of the Hong Kong SAR. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.