A Structural Equation Modelling Approach to Examine the Relationship between Socioeconomic Status, Diet Quality and Dyslipidaemia in South African Children and Adolescents, 6-18 Years

Gugulethu Moyo; Esteban Montenegro-Montenegro; Zachary Stickley; Abdulkadir Egal; Wilna Oldewage-Theron

doi:10.3390/ijerph182312825

A Structural Equation Modelling Approach to Examine the Relationship between Socioeconomic Status, Diet Quality and Dyslipidaemia in South African Children and Adolescents, 6-18 Years

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Dec 5;18(23):12825. doi: 10.3390/ijerph182312825.

Authors

Gugulethu Moyo¹, Esteban Montenegro-Montenegro², Zachary Stickley³, Abdulkadir Egal⁴, Wilna Oldewage-Theron^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nutritional Sciences, College of Human Sciences, Texas Tech University, 1301 Akron Ave, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA.
² Alzheimer's Disease Center East-Bay, University of California, Davis, CA 94598, USA.
³ Institute for Measurement, Methodology, Analysis & Policy, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA.
⁴ Centre of Food and Nutrition Security, Somali National University, Mogadishu, Somalia.
⁵ Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa.

Abstract

This study utilised a structural equation model to examine the relationship between diet quality, socioeconomic status, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in South African learners. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the indirect effects model for diet, socioeconomic status, diet quality and cardiovascular risk using pre-existing cross-sectional data. The structural equation model was fit using Lavaan version 0.6-5 in R version 3.6.1. Data were analysed from 178 children and adolescents, aged 6-18 years, from five rural schools in Cofimvaba, South Africa. Latent variables were created for dietary quality, dyslipidaemia and the socioeconomic status of participants. A negative association was observed between socioeconomic status and dyslipidaemia in school-aged children (p = 0.029).

Keywords: children; diet quality; disparities; health; non-communicable; socioeconomic.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Child
Cross-Sectional Studies
Diet*
Dyslipidemias* / epidemiology
Humans
Latent Class Analysis
Social Class
Socioeconomic Factors
South Africa / epidemiology