ArticleInternational journal of obesity (2005)2018
Socioeconomic inequalities in weight, height and body mass index from birth to 5 years.
Article in International journal of obesity (2005), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Interventions to prevent obesity in children aged 2 to 4 years old.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Interventions to prevent obesity in children aged 12 to 18 years old.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Interventions to prevent obesity in children aged 5 to 11 years old.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The effectiveness of interventions during the first 1,000 days to improve energy balance-related behaviors or prevent overweight/obesity in children from socio-economically disadvantaged families of high-income countries: a systematic review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2023Pooled it
- Interventions for preventing obesity in children.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Body Mass Index Trajectories and Biomarkers of Cardiometabolic Risk in Children from Low-Income and Racially and Ethnically Diverse Households.Childhood obesity (Print) · 2024Trial
- Macronutrient intake in infancy and cardiometabolic health in preschool children from the EDEN mother-child cohort.European journal of nutrition · 2026Article
- Neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and early overweight of very preterm-born children: a cohort study in France.Pediatric research · 2026Article
- Non-genetic component of height as a surrogate marker for childhood socioeconomic position and its association with cardiovascular and brain health: results from HCHS/SOL.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Cord Blood Appetite Hormones and Early-Life Growth and Childhood Adiposity in the ENVIRONAGE Cohort.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Association Between Parental Social Position and Childhood Overweight: Mediation by Lifestyle and BMI Patterns During Pregnancy.Pediatric obesity · 2025Article
- Article
- Socioecological correlates of parental lifestyle patterns during the antenatal period.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2025Article
- Childhood BMI trajectories and sociodemographic factors in an Italian pediatric population.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Associations of Maternal Educational Level, Proximity to Green Space During Pregnancy, and Gestational Diabetes With Body Mass Index From Infancy to Early Adulthood: A Proof-of-Concept Federated Analysis in 18 Birth Cohorts.American journal of epidemiology · 2024Article
- Maternal education and its influence on child growth and nutritional status during the first two years of life: a systematic review and meta-analysis.EClinicalMedicine · 2024Article
- Association between breastfeeding duration and BMI, 2009-2018: a population-based study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Article
- Growth Velocities Across Distinct Early Life Windows and Child Cognition: Insights from a Contemporary US Cohort.The Journal of pediatrics · 2023Article
- Child health screening program in French nursery schools: Results and related socioeconomic factors.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND/
objectivesStudies in high-income countries show that despite the positive association of weight with socioeconomic position at birth, an inverse socioeconomic gradient in overweight (OW) appears later in childhood. The objectives were to understand the natural history of socioeconomic inequalities in weight, height and body mass index (BMI), by investigating their associations with maternal educational level between birth and 5 years, separately in boys and girls. SUBJECTS/
methodsA published work of growth modelling between birth and 5 years allowed us to calculate predicted weight, height and BMI at 1 month, 6 months, 1, 3 and 5 years for 1735 children from the French EDEN mother-child cohort. Associations between maternal education and predicted measures of body size were analysed with marginal linear and logistic models, stratified by sex.
resultsIn girls, despite a positive association between maternal education and birthweight, an inverse socioeconomic gradient was observed as early as 1 month for BMI. Girls whose mothers had low education levels were shorter on the whole than their counterparts with better-educated mothers, despite their similar weights. In boys, no socioeconomic gradient in BMI was observed at any age, including birth, but positive associations were found as early as 1 month for both weight and height.
conclusionsThe emergence of an inverse socioeconomic gradient in BMI and OW apparently results from a complex pattern of socioeconomic inequalities in weight and height from 1 month onwards. The very start of life thus appears to be an important window of opportunity for addressing socioeconomic inequalities in growth.
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Registered trials
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