Examining the association between early life social adversity and BMI changes in childhood: a life course trajectory analysis

Abstract

SummaryBackgroundA number of studies have found associations between multiple aspects of social adversity and obesity in childhood, yet this research has largely been limited to cross‐sectional data.ObjectivesThis study aimed to address this limitation by using life course trajectory methods to determine whether multiple aspects of social adversity in early childhood are associated with changes in body mass index (BMI) throughout childhood.MethodsAssociations between multiple measures of social adversity from birth to 4 years and subsequent BMI trajectories to age 17 were examined in 7021 children in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.ResultsHigher BMI throughout ages 12–17 were observed for children whose parents had separated, were exposed to frequent residential mobility or who experienced moderate or great household financial difficulty in early childhood. After adjustment for confounding variables, associations were attenuated but remained for both moderate (two moves) and high (≥3 moves) residential mobility (mean % difference in BMI at age 17 for children experiencing moderate and high residential mobility before age 4 compared with those experiencing no moves: 2.3; 95% CI: 0.5–4.2; P = 0.015 and 4.2; 95% CI: 1.4–7.0; P = 0.004, respectively).ConclusionsAssociations between BMI and social adversity in childhood are present but largely explained by background socioeconomic position. However, there remain small but important differences between the BMI of children who are exposed to frequent residential mobility in early childhood after adjustment for socioeconomic and other confounders.

Association between household poverty dynamics and childhood overweight risk and health behaviours in the United States: a 8‐year nationally representative longitudinal study of 16 800 children

“…The relationship between socio‐economic status (SES) and obesity is complex, varies by population groups and may change over time . Family SES is viewed as a major risk factor for childhood obesity . Children from low‐socio‐economic households had a three to four times higher odds of obesity than children from higher socio‐economic households .…”

Polygenic risk score for Alzheimer’s disease and trajectories of cardiometabolic risk factors in children

“…All trajectories were estimated using linear spline multilevel models (2 levels: measurement occasion and individual). The optimal linear spline model for each cardiometabolic risk factor was based on previous work [20][21][22][23]. All trajectories were modelled in MLwiN version 3.01 [24], called from STATA version 14 [25] using the runmlwin command [26].…”

Residential mobility in early childhood and obesity at kindergarten age among children from the United States

“…Two prospective studies, one among Scottish adolescents followed into middle adulthood and the other among a nationally representative sample of children (ages 5‐18) from the United States and their parents, found no relationship between residential moves and obesity . Another study of children from south‐west England found limited evidence for increased body mass index (BMI) among children 4 to 8 years of age and stronger evidence for increased BMI at 17 years of age when children moved three or more times in their first 4 years of life . Finally, two analyses from a large, nationally representative sample of adolescents from the United States found that greater residential mobility was associated with a lower likelihood of obesity in adulthood .…”