CC - New research shows socioeconomic status plays greater role in childhood obesity than race/ethnicity –
The journal Childhood Obesity recently published an article suggesting that low socioeconomic status plays a more significant role in the childhood obesity epidemic than race/ethnicity. The study utilized 2009 data from 68 school districts in Massachusetts, with ~112,000 students (in grades 1, 4, 7, and 10). Using multiple regression modeling, these data were analyzed by examining the relationship between the rate of students with overweight/obesity, the rate of African American and Hispanic students, and the rate of low-income students. According to the findings, low-income socioeconomic status was highly associated with overweight/obese status (p<0.0001) while race/ethnicity (p=0.27) and its interaction (p=0.23) with low-income status were not statistically significant. Specifically, there was a 1.2% increase in overweight/obese status for every 1% increase in low-income status, with a similar pattern found in all African American and Hispanic rates in the communities. These findings provide more nuanced guidance on which populations are most vulnerable and once again stress the importance of targeting issues such as food and physical activity access especially in underserved populations. We are hopeful that initiatives such as Partnership for Healthier America will bring greater access to healthy food options in these populations. As we are seeing some plateauing in childhood obesity rates, we are reminded of the promise of translating what’s working in higher-income, white populations to the more at-risk communities – see our coverage of childhood obesity prevalence disparities for more.