Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #110967

Michael Huerta, MD, MPH, Jacob Haviv, MD, MPH, Haim Bibi, MD, Shimon Scharf, MD, MPH, and Michael Gdalevich, MD, MPH. Barzilai Medical Center, Ashkelon District Health Office, Ashkelon, 78306, Israel, 972-8-6745153, mhuerta@netvision.net.il

While socioeconomic status (SES) is a recognized risk factor for childhood overweight and obesity, the disparity in obesity between SES classes has decreased over time, and the relationship between SES and obesity can be confounded by the presence of additional risk factors such as immigration and parental smoking. We determined age- and sex-specific 85^th and 95^th centile BMI values among 8,623 Israeli children aged 8-13, and quantified the effects of SES on the risk of overweight and obesity, while controlling for the potential confounding effects of immigration and smoking status. Risk factors examined included parental smoking, parental education level, family size and household crowding. A direct dose-response relationship was seen between parental smoking and mean BMI, with the lowest values among children whose parents did not smoke, and the highest among children whose parents both smoked. An inverse dose-response relationship was seen between BMI and family size, with mean values decreasing monotonously as family size increased. The risk of overweight or obesity when both parents smoked was 1.4 times that when no parents smoked. Children in small families (≤3 persons in home) were nearly twice as likely as children in large families (≥7 persons) to be obese. Children living in less-crowded homes (<2 persons/room) had a greater risk for overweight than did those living in more crowded dwellings. Parental smoking and higher SES are independent risk factors for overweight and obesity in Israeli children, and should be considered in the design of targeted prevention and intervention programs.

Learning Objectives: At the end of this session the participant will be able to

(
• identify socioeconomic risk factors for childhood obesity; (
• quantify the risk of obesity conveyed by factors such as family size, parental education and household crowding; (
• account for the additional effects of smoking and immigration status

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation