Contribution of socioeconomic status, stature and birth weight to obesity in Sub-Saharan Africa: cross-sectional data from primary school-age children in Cameroon

Abstract

BackgroundThe pattern of obesity in relation to socioeconomic status is of public health concern. This study investigates whether the association between height and obesity in children is affected by their socioeconomic background. It also explores the relationship between high birth weight and obesity.MethodsSchool children, (N = 557; 5 to 12 years old) were recruited from randomly selected primary schools in a cross-sectional study including 173 rural and 384 urban children in the North West Region of Cameroon. Socioeconomic status (SES) and birth weight were obtained using a self administered questionnaire. Anthropometric measures included height, weight, BMI, waist circumference and percentage body fat. These measures were transformed into age and sex-standardized variables. Then participants were divided according to quartiles of height SDS.ResultsThe highest frequencies of overweight/obesity (18.8%), abdominal overweight/obesity (10.9%) and high body fat/obesity (12.3%) were observed among the tallest children from a high socioeconomic background. Univariate analyses indicate that children of high SES (39.9%), fourth height quartile (33.1%) and of high birth weight (54.8%) were significantly (p < 0.001) more likely to be overweight/obese. Multivariate analyses showed high SES (OR 8.3, 95% CI 3.9 – 15.4), fourth height quartile (OR 9.1, 95% CI 3.4 – 16.7) and high birth weight (OR 0.1, 95% CI 0.06 – 0.2) as independent predictors of overweight/obesity.ConclusionsThis study confirms that children coming from a high socioeconomic background and being tall are at particular risk of becoming obese.

Wealth index and risk of childhood overweight and obesity: evidence from four prospective cohorts in Peru and Vietnam

“…In Europe, greater deprivation means a higher prevalence of childhood overweight (Knai et al 2012;Stamatakis et al 2010) and a similar pattern has been described in Australia (O'Dea et al 2014). However, results from other developing countries are similar to ours (Friedman et al 2009;Hyska et al 2014;Navti et al 2014;Schooling et al 2010;Wrotniak et al 2012;Zadzinska et al 2012). Thus, the effect of socioeconomic status on childhood obesity is different between developed and developing countries; and within the latter there are different patterns of childhood obesity according to socioeconomic status.…”

“…Botswana is undergoing a rapid nutritional t ransition, and Wrotniak et al in a crosssectional study reported similar results to ours, though with smaller estimates: children in private school had 300% higher odds of being obese versus their peers in public schools; also, children in families with high assets had 260% higher odds, versus children living in families with low assets (Wrotniak et al 2012). In a cross-sectional study in Cameroon, Navti et al found that children at the highest socioeconomic status had higher odds of being overweight (Navti et al 2014); their estimates were similar to what we found in Vietnam, yet they used a different method to assess socioeconomic status (Navti et al 2014). …”

Physical and cardiorespiratory profiles of urban schoolchildren aged 10-14 years in Douala, Cameroon

“…Very few participants (4/176) were overweight, one case of underweight has found and no obese students were identified. However, these observations were not in accordance with the previous findings on overweight and obesity in children in rural and urban Cameroon (Navti et al, 2014;Navti et al, 2015;Navti et al, 2017). The low prevalence of overweight and obesity could be justified by the sample size of our study.…”

“…It is plausible that a number of limitations may influenced the results obtained. First, the limited sample size did not allow us to better compare our results with previous studies (Navti et al, 2014;Navti et al, 2015;Navti et al, 2017). Another limitation is the lack of data on the socio-economic background of students because previous studies have highlighted the preponderance of overweight and obesity among students from high socioeconomic backgrounds.…”

“…In Cameroon, epidemiological findings on obesity and overweight in some schools indicated up to 18% prevalence (Wamba et al, 2013;Navti et al, 2014;Navti et al, 2015;Navti et al, 2017;Choukem et al, 2017). Standard factors including socio-economic status, stature, and physical activity have been identified as the key contributors of overweight and obesity in such studies.…”