256889 Educational attainment and obesity: A systematic review and a new look

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 : 8:45 AM - 9:00 AM

Alison Cohen , School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
David Rehkopf, ScD, MPH , Division of General Medical Disciplines, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
Manisha Rai , School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Julie Deardorff, PhD , Community Health and Human Development Division, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Barbara Abrams, DrPH, RD , Division of Epidemiology, School of PUblic Health, Berkeley, CA
     
We conducted a systematic review and found that the relationship between educational attainment and obesity has been studied in many settings and around the world, yet prior studies often failed to control for important confounders across the lifecourse due to limited follow-up. We will first summarize the results of our systematic review, which found an inverse association in diverse populations around the world. We then offer new analyses from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort to examine the relationship between educational attainment by age 25 and obesity at age 40, controlling for demographic (e.g. race/ethnicity, gender), early life (e.g. parental educational attainment), and adolescent (e.g. intelligence) confounders, and also considering adult socioeconomic mediators (e.g. income, wealth). Interaction between educational attainment and race/ethnicity but not gender was observed: college graduates were less likely than high school graduates to be obese for both blacks (RR=0.62, 95%CI: 0.39, 0.99) and whites (RR=0.66, 95%CI: 0.54, 0.79) but there was no significant difference in risk between high school graduates and those with less than a high school education. In contrast, Hispanics with less than a high school education were less likely to be obese than high school graduates (RR= 1.29, 95%CI: 1.01, 1.65) and college graduates (RR=1.41, 95%CI: 1.02, 1.94). A relationship between educational attainment and obesity that is modified by race/ethnicity appears to exist among American adults even after controlling for a substantial number of key confounders, including other measures of socioeconomic status; further research must be done to elucidate why.

Learning Areas:
Epidemiology
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Explain the state of the literature on the relationship between educational attainment and obesity. Describe the types of confounders and mediators that should be considered when analyzing the relationship between educational attainment and obesity from a lifecourse and social epidemiologic perspective.

Keywords: Health Disparities, Obesity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have degrees in both education and public health and have written and presented on links between education and health, including at previous APHA meetings.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4030.0: Social Epidemiology 1