Evolution of overweight prevalence among 5–6‐year‐old children according to socio‐economic status

Abstract

Overweight prevalence has decreased between 2004 and 2011 in 5-6-year-old children from Bordeaux. However, the gap between low and non-low-SES areas has persisted during these years.

Ethnic Inequalities in Overweight and Obesity Prevalence among Copenhagen Schoolchildren from 2002 to 2007

“…Other European studies have found increasing differences in the prevalence of overweight and obesity by socioeconomic status as well. However, consistent significant socioeconomic differences in the overweight prevalence across school years were only reported in France [ 20 ], whereas in Sweden and England significant social differences were only found in few years [ 8 , 9 ], just as in our study.…”

Socioeconomic inequalities in weight, height and body mass index from birth to 5 years

“…In France, separate cross-sectional studies have demonstrated an inverse relation between socioeconomic position and OW at both 5-6 years [27][28][29] and at 2 years. 30 Given this background, we hypothesised that this inverse relation with socioeconomic position was likely to be apparent by 2 years of age.…”

Why are there fewer obese children in France than in other Western European countries?

“…This programme included widespread claims to promote healthy dietary habits, multiple school interventions and changes in the built environment to promote physical activity. Numerous healthcare professionals involved in school‐based obesity prevention programmes also suggest that their actions have had a positive impact . However, better childhood obesity prevention does not seem to explain the low rates of overweight and obesity in French children.…”

“…In addition, some French studies had showed that programmes that aimed to prevent childhood obesity had proved successful . However, there could be some obvious biases that explain why the authors of these studies assumed that their programme was working.…”

“…It would have been useful to have compared the evolution of obesity prevalence during the 12‐year follow‐up period with a control group, but that comparison was not made. A number of other biases invalidate the positive results demonstrated in other French studies, including inadequate selection of the control population and lack of important data that would enable researchers to compare the intervention children and controls, such as the parents' body mass index and ethnicity .…”