Abstract
Objective: To investigate the influence of socioeconomic status at birth and during young adulthood, and social mobility, on adult central and total obesity in a developing country.
Methods: 1016 men and 1087 women born in RibeirĪ³o Preto, Brazil in 1978/79 were followed up to age 23/25. Main outcome measures were body mass index, waist circumference and standard deviation scores of triceps and subscapular skinfold thickness. Explanatory variables were family income at birth and at young adulthood measured in minimum wages, classified into three groups: low, medium and high. Simple and multiple linear regressions were used in the analysis.
Results: In the unadjusted analysis family income at birth was associated with obesity among men and women (P<0.05), with the exception of triceps skinfold among women (P=0.127) and subscapular skinfold among men (P=0.051). Current family income was associated with all measures of obesity among women (P<0.01) but not among men. After adjusting for both childbirth and current family income, childbirth income remained associated with waist circumference (P=0.023) and marginally with body mass index, triceps and subscapular skinfold (all P between 0.05 and 0.10) among men but with no measure of obesity among women. Current family income remained associated with all four measures of obesity among women (P<0.001). Only for women did upward social mobility lead to low levels of fatness. When educational level was used to measure socioeconomic position similar results were obtained.
Conclusions: Fatness in young adulthood was more strongly related to childbirth circumstances for men whereas adult socioeconomic position seems to be more important for women. Upward social mobility was associated with lower obesity levels among women and did not change fatness among men. Results were fairly consistent for all measures of obesity. Influences of childbirth circumstances and social mobility on obesity seem to be predominantly socially patterned rather than biologically programmed.
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Silva, A., Bettiol, H., Barbieri, M. et al. 351 Childbirth and Adult Circumstances, Social Mobility and Adult Obesity: Findings from a Brazilian Birth Cohort Study. Pediatr Res 58, 414 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-200508000-00380
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-200508000-00380