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Household‐level Analysis of Shared and Unique Predictors of Central Obesity in Chinese Children and Adults
Author(s) -
Thompson Amanda,
Houck Kelly,
Adair Linda,
GordonLarsen Penny,
Popkin Barry
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.119.4
Subject(s) - obesity , quartile , socioeconomic status , waist to height ratio , demography , environmental health , geography , medicine , waist , confidence interval , sociology , population
Research into the impact of changing social and physical environments on obesity has been limited by methodological difficulties in distinguishing between the effects of individual developmental trajectories and macro‐level changes in diet, disease, and lifestyle. We examined the patterning of central obesity (waist‐to‐height ratio (WHtR) >0.5) in 1900 households participating in the China Health and Nutrition Survey. Adjusted multilevel regression models were used to identify shared and unique predictors of central obesity within households to assess how differences in developmental history and age shape risk. High WHtR was present in 10% of children, 45% of parents, and 74% of grandparents. Across the sample, urbanicity (OR: 1.57, 95%CI: 1.23‐2.01) was positively associated with high WHtR while higher quartiles of household sanitation (OR: 0.84, 95%CI: 0.75‐0.93) and physical activity (OR: 0.88, 95%CI: 0.8‐0.97) were negatively associated with high WHtR. Within households, the impact of socioeconomic status, diet, household sanitation, and physical activity on WHtR varied across family members with some factors, such as income quartile, associated with higher WHtR in children but lower WHtR in their grandmothers and mothers and others, such as household sanitation, only having a significant negative association with WHtR in older adults. These results suggest that developmental history may shape current vulnerability to central obesity even when accounting for shared environments and age.