Neighbourhood socioeconomic circumstances, adiposity and cardiometabolic risk measures in children with severe obesity

Markus Juonala; Brooke E Harcourt; Christoph Saner; Manpreet Sethi; Richard Saffery; Costan G Magnussen; David P Burgner; Matthew A Sabin

doi:10.1016/j.orcp.2019.05.004

Neighbourhood socioeconomic circumstances, adiposity and cardiometabolic risk measures in children with severe obesity

Obes Res Clin Pract. 2019 Jul-Aug;13(4):345-351. doi: 10.1016/j.orcp.2019.05.004. Epub 2019 Jun 14.

Authors

Markus Juonala¹, Brooke E Harcourt², Christoph Saner², Manpreet Sethi³, Richard Saffery⁴, Costan G Magnussen⁵, David P Burgner⁴, Matthew A Sabin⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland; Division of Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland; Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, VIC, Australia. Electronic address: mataju@utu.fi.
² Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, VIC, Australia; The Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
³ The Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
⁴ Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, VIC, Australia; The Royal Children's Hospital, Parkville, VIC, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia.
⁵ Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia; Research Centre of Applied and Preventive Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Turku, Turku Finland.

PMID: 31204306
DOI: 10.1016/j.orcp.2019.05.004

Abstract

Background: It has recently been shown that neighbourhood socioeconomic disadvantage in childhood is associated with obesity, hypertension, fatty liver, and type 2 diabetes in adulthood. However, it is largely unknown whether neighbourhood socioeconomic circumstances are important predictors of adiposity and associated measures in children, especially in those with severe obesity. Therefore, we evaluated the associations between neighbourhood socioeconomic factors with the severity of obesity, and related cardiometabolic risk factors in a cohort of obese children.

Methods: The Childhood Overweight BioRepository of Australia (COBRA) cohort study comprises 444 children (mean age 11.1years, mean BMI z-score 2.5). Neighbourhood socioeconomic advantage/disadvantage was evaluated based on postcode information by the national Australian Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) scores. Participants/parents also completed self-administered questionnaires on neighbourhood related facilities, family education and family income.

Results: In analyses adjusted for age, sex and pubertal status, SEIFA indicating neighbourhood education/occupation was negatively associated with BMI, waist circumference and body fat%. Higher family education was associated with lower BMI. Neighbourhood walkability was related to lower waist circumference. Good shopping facilities in the neighbourhood were associated with increased risk of dyslipidemia and fatty liver, and the existence of parks and playgrounds nearby was related to dyslipidemia.

Conclusions: The present data suggest that neighbourhood-related issues are associated with less severe adiposity among children with established obesity. Concerning cardiometabolic risk factors, shopping facilities were related to dyslipidemia and fatty liver. These findings suggest that increased awareness and efforts are needed to diminish socioeconomic inequalities between neighbourhoods.

Keywords: Adiposity; Childhood; Socioeconomic.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adiposity / physiology
Australia / epidemiology
Body Mass Index
Cardiovascular Diseases
Child
Dyslipidemias / epidemiology*
Exercise / physiology
Female
Humans
Male
Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease / epidemiology*
Obesity, Morbid / epidemiology*
Pediatric Obesity / epidemiology*
Residence Characteristics / statistics & numerical data*
Risk Factors
Socioeconomic Factors
Waist Circumference