ArticleThe Lancet. Public health2018
Socioeconomic inequalities in childhood and adolescent body-mass index, weight, and height from 1953 to 2015: an analysis of four longitudinal, observational, British birth cohort studies.
Article in The Lancet. Public health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 108 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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108 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 238 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Socioeconomic position and body composition in childhood in high- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and narrative synthesis.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2021Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of school-based interventions with health education to reduce body mass index in adolescents aged 10 to 19 years.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2021Pooled it
- Socioeconomic inequalities in children's weight, height and BMI trajectories in Norway.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
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- An educational intervention to prevent overweight in pre-school years: a cluster randomised trial with a focus on disadvantaged families.BMC public health · 2019Trial
- Six decades of trends in BMI, thinness, overweight, and obesity among 210,927 Swedish children in different socioeconomic contexts.BMC public health · 2026Article
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- Associations of Fitbit measured physical activity and sedentary behavior with mental health in U.S. youth: a quantile regression analysis.Child and adolescent mental health · 2026Article
- Area-level socioeconomic status and children's body weight: examining the role of unhealthy food environments.Nutrition journal · 2026Article
- A novel model for percentile-based oscillometric blood pressure reference values in Danish children: implications for the use of international standards in pediatric screening.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Article
- Predicting childhood overweight and obesity at school entrance using healthcare, demographic, and socioeconomic data in Wales, UK.European journal of public health · 2026Article
- Prevalence and Associated Factors of Overweight and Obesity among School-Aged Children in Zhuzhou, China.Obesity surgery · 2026Article
- Childhood and Adolescent Factors and Thyroid Cancer Incidence in Adult Women in the Sister Study Cohort.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2026Article
- Cigarette smoking across life from 1946 to 2018: Harmonisation of four British birth cohort studies.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Sociodemographic Factors and Childhood Growth: Associations with Environmental Sanitation Phases.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Genetics and context for precision health in Greater Boston.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Growth trajectories and risk of overweight and obesity in twins and singletons in the UK and USA: analysis of prospective national cohort data.The Lancet. Child & adolescent health · 2025Article
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5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
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Abstract
backgroundSocioeconomic inequalities in childhood body-mass index (BMI) have been documented in high-income countries; however, uncertainty exists with regard to how they have changed over time, how inequalities in the composite parts (ie, weight and height) of BMI have changed, and whether inequalities differ in magnitude across the outcome distribution. Therefore, we aimed to investigate how socioeconomic inequalities in childhood and adolescent weight, height, and BMI have changed over time in Britain.
methodsWe used data from four British longitudinal, observational, birth cohort studies: the 1946 Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development (1946 NSHD), 1958 National Child Development Study (1958 NCDS), 1970 British Cohort Study (1970 BCS), and 2001 Millennium Cohort Study (2001 MCS). BMI (kg/m
findingsIn England, Scotland, and Wales, 5362 singleton births were enrolled in 1946, 17 202 in 1958, 17 290 in 1970, and 16 404 in 2001. Low socioeconomic position was associated with lower weight at childhood and adolescent in the earlier-born cohorts (1946-70), but with higher weight in the 2001 MCS cohort. Weight disparities became larger from childhood to adolescence in the 2001 MCS but not the earlier-born cohorts (p
interpretationOver the studied period (1953-2015), socioeconomic-associated inequalities in weight reversed and those in height narrowed, whereas differences in BMI and obesity emerged and widened. These substantial changes highlight the impact of societal changes on child and adolescent growth and the insufficiency of previous policies in preventing obesity and its socioeconomic inequality. As such, new and effective policies are required to reduce BMI inequalities in childhood and adolescence.
fundingUK Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, and Academy of Medical Sciences/the Wellcome Trust.
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