household socioeconomic status in relation to childhood general and central obesity in farrokhshahr, iran

Background: although the association between socioeconomic status (ses) andgeneral/central obesity has extensively been examined, limited data are available in this regardamong children. the aim of this study was to examine the association between household sesand obesity among children.methods: this cross-sectional study was done in farrokhshahr, iran, among primary schoolchildren aged 6-12 years in 2009. ses was examined using participants’ and their parents’ oralresponses to a pretested questionnaire. in the current study, participants were classified basedon tertiles of ses score to low, medium, and high ses categories. general as well as centralobesity was defined based on age- and sex-specific national cut-off points.results: comparing individuals in the highest versus lowest tertile of ses, there was nosignificant difference in mean waist circumference (wc), but those in the middle tertile of seshad greater means of body mass index (bmi) than those in the lowest tertile after controlling forpotential confounders (16.19 ± 0.27 vs. 15.27 ± 0.27 kg/m2, p = 0.002). we observed a greaterchance of general obesity for those in the highest tertile of ses compared with those in thelowest tertile [odds ratio (or): 4.00, 95% confidence interval (ci): 1.53-10.59, ptrend = 0.004].no significant association was seen between ses and central obesity, either before or aftercontrolling for potential confounders.conclusion: we found that children in the highest ses class had a greater chance of generalobesity than those in the lowest ses class. there was no significant association between ses andcentral obesity.