The effect of parental socioeconomic class on children's body mass indices

Objective: to assess the effect of education and economic status of parents on obesity in children. methods: a cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2006 among school children in riyadh,saudi arabia. a representative sample of 1243 (542 male and 701 female) children aged 6-16 years were contacted using multistage cluster sampling strategy. social and demographic variables were collected using questionnaires completed by parents. height and weight of the children were recorded by a trained team. results: the mean body mass index for all children was 19.8±5.4. the prevalence rates of overweight and obesity were 21.1% and 12.7%,respectively. overweight and obesity were more prevalent in males than in females. by multivariate analysis,children were more likely to be overweight if they were male (or=0.6,p<0.01),12 years of age (or=3.79,p<0.01,compared to age 6 years),and if their families had higher income (or=3.12,p<0.01,compared to families with low income). being male (or=0.545,p <0.01),aged 12 years (or=3.9,p=0.005,compared to the age of 6),and having a mother who is more educated were determined to be significant risk factors for obesity in children. mothers educated at university level were found to have a three-fold higher risk of having obese children (or=3.4,p<0.01,compared to mothers with lower education levels). conclusions: overweight and obesity among saudi children is associated with educated mothers and higher family income. this finding calls for introducing interventions in health education for both children and parents. © journal of clinical research in pediatric endocrinology,published by galenos publishing.