The influence of immigrant background and parental education on overweight and obesity in 8-year-old children in Norway

B Øvrebø; M Kjøllesdal; T H Stea; A K Wills; E Bere; P Magnus; P B Juliusson; I H Bergh

doi:10.1186/s12889-023-16571-1

The influence of immigrant background and parental education on overweight and obesity in 8-year-old children in Norway

BMC Public Health. 2023 Aug 29;23(1):1660. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-16571-1.

Authors

B Øvrebø^{1

2}, M Kjøllesdal³, T H Stea⁴, A K Wills^{5

6}, E Bere^{1

2

7}, P Magnus⁸, P B Juliusson^{9

10

11}, I H Bergh¹²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health and Inequalities, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
² Centre for Evaluation of Public Health Measures, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
³ Department of Public Health Science, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway.
⁴ Department of Health and Nursing Sciences, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
⁵ Department of Nutrition and Public Health, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
⁶ Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
⁷ Department of Sport Science and Physical Education, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway.
⁸ Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
⁹ Department of Health Registry Research and Development, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Bergen, Norway.
¹⁰ Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.
¹¹ Children and Youth Clinic, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway.
¹² Department of Health and Inequalities, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway. IngunnHolden.Bergh@fhi.no.

Abstract

Background: Little is known about the prevalence of overweight/obesity and socio-economic position (SEP) in children with immigrant background in Scandinavia. The purpose of this study is to examine the prevalence of overweight/obesity by immigrant background among children in Norway and to explore the role of SEP in explaining differences in weight status.

Methods: Anthropometric data from 8,858 children (age 8.3 years) from the population-based Norwegian Childhood Growth Study were used. Information about immigrant background, country of origin, and parental education (used as an indicator of SEP) were provided by Statistics Norway. For children with immigrant background, regional background was determined based on country of origin. Prevalence ratios (PR) were estimated for overweight/obesity and weight-to-height-ratio (WHtR) ≥ 0.5 by immigration and regional background, using generalized estimating equation log-binominal models adjusting for sex, age, survey year (model 1), residential area, population density (model 2) and parental education (model 3).

Results: Children with immigrant background had a higher prevalence of overweight/obesity and WHtR ≥ 0.5 than non-immigrant background children. Adjusted for parental education, children with an immigrant background from Southern and Eastern Europe, Asia except South-Asia, and Africa had a higher prevalence of overweight/obesity [PR: 1.37 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.10-1.72), 1.28 (1.05-1.57), 1.47 (1.13-1.91), respectively] than children with a non-immigrant background. Children originating from Asia except South-Asia had a higher prevalence of WHtR ≥ 0.5 (PR: 1.64, CI: 1.25-2.15) compared to non-immigrant background children. The adjustment for parental education did not substantially change the results.

Conclusion: Children with immigrant background had higher prevalence of overweight/obesity than non-immigrant background children. The difference varied according to region of origin but not substantially according to parental education. There is a need for culturally acceptable preventative measures targeting the parents of immigrant background children.

Keywords: Children; Immigrant; Obesity; Overweight; Parental education; Prevalence.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Child
Humans
Norway / epidemiology
Obesity*
Overweight* / epidemiology
Parents
Waist-Height Ratio