ArticleArchives of disease in childhood2005
Overweight and obesity trends from 1974 to 2003 in English children: what is the role of socioeconomic factors?
Article in Archives of disease in childhood, 2005. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
58 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Prediction models using artificial intelligence and longitudinal data from electronic health records: a systematic methodological review.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2023Pooled it
- Gender differences and climate zones in overweight and obesity prevalence in European elementary school children from 2000 to 2020: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2023Pooled it
- Socioeconomic position and childhood-adolescent weight status in rich countries: a systematic review, 1990-2013.BMC pediatrics · 2015Pooled it
- Socio-economic position as an intervention against overweight and obesity in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2015Pooled it
- Definitions of childhood obesity: current practice.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2006Pooled it
- Genetic risk for high body mass index before and amidst the obesity epidemic: Cross-cohort analysis of four british birth cohort studies.PLoS genetics · 2026Article
- Article
- The association between parental BMI and offspring adiposity: A genetically informed analysis of trios.PLoS genetics · 2025Article
- The relative roles of early life, physical activity, sedentarism and diet in social and economic inequalities in body mass index and obesity risk between 9 and 18.SSM - population health · 2023Article
- Long-term trends in the consumption of sugary and diet soft drinks among adolescents: a cross-national survey in 21 European countries.European journal of nutrition · 2022Article
- Socioeconomic status, BMI, and brain development in children.Translational psychiatry · 2022Article
- Apparent changes in the epidemiology and severity of multiple sclerosis.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2021Review
- Determining patient abdomen thickness from a single digital radiograph with a computational model: clinical results from a proof of concept study.The British journal of radiology · 2020Article
- From Socioeconomic Disadvantage to Obesity: The Mediating Role of Psychological Distress and Emotional Eating.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2019Article
- Precision nutrition: hype or hope for public health interventions to reduce obesity?International journal of epidemiology · 2019Article
- General practitioners cannot rely on reported weight and height of children.Primary health care research & development · 2019Article
- Prevalence of Childhood Overweight and Obesity in Liverpool between 2006 and 2012: Evidence of Widening Socioeconomic Inequalities.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Article
- Measures of low food variety and poor dietary quality in a cross-sectional study of London school children.European journal of clinical nutrition · 2018Article
- Do thin, overweight and obese children have poorer development than their healthy-weight peers at the start of school? Findings from a South Australian data linkage study.Early childhood research quarterly · 2016Article
- Pathways between Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Childhood Growth in the Scottish Longitudinal Study, 1991-2001.PloS one · 2016Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsTo examine the childhood overweight and obesity prevalence trends between 1974 and 2003 and to assess whether these trends relate to parental social class and household income.
methodsA school based and a general population health survey: the National Study of Health and Growth in 1974, 1984, and 1994, and the Health Survey for England, yearly from 1996 to 2003. Participants were 14,587 white boys and 14,014 white girls aged 5-10 years. Overweight and obesity prevalence were calculated using UK specific as well as international body mass index (kg/m2) cut-offs. Socioeconomic status was measured using the Registrar General's social class; household income (1997 onwards only) was adjusted for household size.
resultsThe prevalence of obesity (UK specific definition) in boys increased from 1.2% in 1984 to 3.4% in 1996-97 and 6.0% in 2002-03. In girls, obesity increased from 1.8% in 1984 to 4.5% in 1996-97 and 6.6% in 2002-03. Obesity prevalence has been increasing at accelerating rates in the more recent years. Children from manual social classes had marginally higher odds (OR 1.14, 95% CI 0.98 to 1.33) and children from higher income households had lower odds (OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.61 to 0.89) to be obese than their peers from non-manual class, and lower income households, respectively.
conclusionChildhood obesity is increasing rapidly into the 2000s in England and these increases are more marked among children from lower socioeconomic strata. There is an urgent need for action to prevent further increase in obesity among children.
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