Is socioeconomic status a risk factor for children´s overweight and obesity? - Mun-SI Portugal, A Community Based Program

Rito, Ana; Doroana, Érica; Garcia, Rita; Alves, Emilia

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.18/3252

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MUN-Si (www.mun-si.com) is an on-going Portuguese community-based program at local level which aims to promote lifestyles changes in the long-term particularly to children and families that do not have adequate resources. The objective of this study was to address the association between socioeconomic (SE) indicators and children´s nutritional status (NS) of the two rounds of the MUN-SI NS surveys (2009 and 2011). A total of 2726 children (round 1 (R1) = 1126; round 2 (R2)= 1600) aged between 6-12 years old were evaluated from 5 municipalities. Childhood overweight and obesity prevalence was assessed according to WHO criteria. Low SE status was defined according to 3 criteria: family income, parents occupation and education level. These SE characteristics were obtained by a self response questionnaire. In R1 (2009), the prevalence of overweight was 39.4% (n = 444), of which 15.8% (n = 178) were obese. In the second round (2011) similar prevalence were obtained (40.8% of overweight, in which 16.9% obese). In both rounds, 69% of the families had a low income (<1500 €). Mother's education level was mainly up to 12th grade (79%) and more than 50% of fathers had an education level up to 9th grade. Parents occupation were manly (>45%) unqualified or semi-qualified. In R1, a family income of 0-1500 € was associated with higher obesity prevalence (OR = 2,37; IC95%: 1,11-5,02). In R2, no significant association between obesity prevalence and low family income (p=0.494) was observed. Families where the parents had a non-qualified or semi-qualified occupation had a higher probability (mother - OR ≥ 3.4; father - OR ≥ 2.7) to have children with obesity. Low education level of the parents was also proved to be associated with higher childhood obesity prevalence. This study observed that low SE status is an important risk factor to development of childhood obesity in Portuguese population. These results support that further intervention is needed on low socioeconomic families.