Body mass index in young adults: Associations with parental body size and education in the CARDIA Study.

Greenlund, Kurt J.; Liu, Kiang; Dyer, Alan R.; Kiefe, Catarina I.; Burke, Gregory L.; Yunis, Carlo

doi:10.2105/ajph.86.4.480

Cited by 52 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 45 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The association of a lower socioeconomic status with overweight has been shown consistently in Americans of European descent but not in Americans of African descent (24,27,43,44). The present analysis did not detect an association between parental socioeconomic status, assessed by maternal education and household composition, and the development of increased adiposity.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 78%

Early risk factors for increased adiposity: a cohort study of African American subjects followed from birth to young adulthood

Stettler

Tershakovec

Zemel

et al. 2000

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

137

101

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background:Obesity is an increasing concern in the United States. Effective prevention of obesity requires the risk factors to be well defined. African Americans have a high risk of obesity. Objective: The objective of this study was to identify risk factors, present at birth, for increased adiposity in adulthood in an African American population. Design: In this retrospective analysis of a prospective cohort study, anthropometric and socioeconomic variables were collected at birth. A representative sample of 447 African American subjects was followed up until young adulthood, when skinfold thickness was measured. Associations between the independent variables and increased adiposity (skinfold thickness above the 85th percentile) were explored by using unadjusted and adjusted analyses. Results: Three variables measured at birth were independently associated with adiposity in young adulthood, explaining 12% of the variance. The odds ratios (with 95% CIs) of these variables for increased adiposity were 2.7 (1.2, 6.2) for female sex, 4.0 (1.4, 11.2) for first-born status, and 1.15 (1.06, 1.25) for each unit increment in maternal prepregnancy body mass index (BMI; in kg/m 2 ). After adjustment for these variables, birth weight for gestational age and socioeconomic variables were not associated with adiposity. Conclusions: This cohort study of African American subjects was the first to identify first-born status as an independent risk factor for increased adiposity in adulthood in a US population. The results of the study strengthen previous reports of the effect of female sex and maternal BMI on adulthood obesity. Identification of risk factors early in life may help target prevention toward high-risk children and allow healthy lifestyles to be established before the onset of obesity.

show abstract

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 78%

Early risk factors for increased adiposity: a cohort study of African American subjects followed from birth to young adulthood

Stettler

Tershakovec

Zemel

et al. 2000

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

137

101

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Differences in sampling and analysis methodologies may explain partially the disagreement with previous crosssectional and longitudinal studies showing a significant positive association between family history of obesity and BMI level in children and adult offspring. 30,[34][35][36][37][38][39] Fourth, family history of CVD was not a good predictor of BMI during childhood. The disagreement with previously published reports from studies performed both during childhood and adulthood most probably is due to methodological differences.…”

Section: Rr (95% Ci) High Level-7y High Level-15ymentioning

confidence: 84%

Tracking of body mass index during childhood: a 15-year prospective population-based family study in eastern Finland

Il²,

Shemeikka

et al. 2003

Int J Obes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

OBJECTIVES:To investigate the tracking of body mass index (BMI) during childhood. The effect of birth weight and family history of obesity on BMI development during childhood was also evaluated. METHODS: All children born during 1981-1982 in a rural community of eastern Finland were followed at ages 6 months, 7 and 15 y (-6 m, -7y, -15y). Out of 205 children, 138 completed the full follow-up period, of which 100 (45 girls) were included in the analysis with complete data. RESULTS: BMI-6 m was significantly associated with BMI-7y (r ¼ 0.320; P-value ¼ 0.001), but no longer with BMI-15y. BMI-7y was significantly associated with BMI-15y (r ¼ 0.686; P-value o0.001). Children in the highest tertile of BMI-6 m did not have a higher risk of being in the highest tertile of either BMI-7y or BMI-15y compared with children in other tertiles of BMI-6 m. Children in the highest tertile of BMI-7y had a significantly higher risk of being in the highest tertile of BMI-15y (relative risk ¼ 3.6 (2.0-6.3)) compared with children in other tertiles of BMI-7y. BMI-7y was predicted negatively by parents' education and male gender and positively by BMI-6 m. BMI-15y was predicted positively by BMI-7y, the difference in BMI between ages 7 y and 6 months and the mean of BMI between ages 6 months and 7 y. Birth weight was not a good predictor of BMI during childhood. Children with at least one obese parent seemed to have higher BMI during childhood; however, this association did not reach a significant level. CONCLUSION: The study confirmed the tracking of BMI during childhood. Neither birth weight nor family history of obesity was found a good predictor of BMI during childhood. The risk of obesity in adolescence can be determined during middle childhood and obese children may be targeted in lifestyle advice to reverse this trend. Parental education may have a key role in the prevention of obesity during childhood.

show abstract

“…This relationship appears very early in the educational stream, potentially at least by the eighth grade for some students (Low 2001), and like education's effect on mortality, it is dose dependent. The more years of education a person receives, the less likely he or she is to engage in negative health behaviors (Flay et al 1994;Greenlund et al 1996;Kandel and Wu 1995).…”

Section: Pathways Between Education and Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Education Policy Be Health Policy? Implications of Research on the Social Determinants of Health

Löw

Low

Baumler

et al. 2005

Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research on the social determinants of health has demonstrated robust correlations between several social factors, health status, and life expectancy. Some of these factors could be modifi ed through policy intervention. National-level public policies explicitly based on population health research are in various stages of development in many Western countries, but in spite of evident need, seemingly not at all in the United States. Because research shows such a strong association between education and good health, we offer evidence to show that at least two pressing problems in American society, namely the uneven distribution of educational attainment and health disparities linked to socioeconomic position, may be ameliorated through policy initiatives that link quality early childhood care, child development programs, and parental training in a seamless continuum with strengthened K-12 education.The central tenet of research on the social determinants of health holds that, in all populations studied to date, health is distributed unevenly, following a gradient that is a function of social and economic advantage (Evans and Stoddart 1994). The gradient does not just represent differences between people at the top and the bottom of the socioeconomic scale, but is continuous across even relatively small differences in social advantage. The gradient is steepest in countries such as the United States where there are large differences between people on measures of early childhood experiences, education, income, and housing quality. It is much less steep in countries such as Sweden, where income differences are smaller and policies that promote social integration and support have been normative for decades.

show abstract

Body mass index in young adults: Associations with parental body size and education in the CARDIA Study.

Cited by 52 publications

References 45 publications

Early risk factors for increased adiposity: a cohort study of African American subjects followed from birth to young adulthood

Early risk factors for increased adiposity: a cohort study of African American subjects followed from birth to young adulthood

Tracking of body mass index during childhood: a 15-year prospective population-based family study in eastern Finland

Can Education Policy Be Health Policy? Implications of Research on the Social Determinants of Health

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About