Table 3.
Summary of associations between socioeconomic position and fat measures in children.
| SEP indicator | Direction of SEP and body composition association | Total | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positive association | Negative association | No clear/strong direction | |||||||||
| N | % | References | N | % | References | N | % | References | N | % | |
| Body Fat Percentage | |||||||||||
| Parental Education | 6 | 26% | [77]b,c [77]a,c [74]c [59]c [69]b,c [69]a,c | 9 | 43% | [32]a [33]a [43]a [42]a,c [47]b [47]a [46, 58, 73] | 8 | 30% | [32]b [33]b [43]b [42]b,c [60]c [44]a [44]b [52] | 23 | 19% |
| Composite SEP | 4 | 33% | [69]b,c [69]a,c[77]b,c [77]a,c | 3 | 25% | [41]b,c [57, 76] | 5 | 41% | [42]c [40]c [37]a,c [37]b,c [72] | 12 | 10% |
| Occupational Social Class | 1 | 20% | [74]c | 3 | 60% | [32]a [42]c [48] | 1 | 20% | [32]b | 5 | 4% |
| Income | 1 | 16% | [74]c | 2 | 33% | [71]a[71]b | 3 | 50% | [60]c [33]a [33]b | 6 | 5% |
| Area or school level SEP5 | 0 | – | – | 3 | 75% | [45, 62, 68] | 1 | 25% | [59]c | 4 | 3% |
| PIR | 0 | – | – | 3 | 100% | [65]a[65]b [66] | 0 | – | – | 3 | 2% |
| School Type | 0 | – | – | 2 | 66% | [42]a,c [60]c | 1 | 33% | [42]b,c | 3 | 2% |
| Miscellaneous | 1 | 25% | [74]c | 1 | 25% | [70]a | 2 | 50% | [60]c [40]c | 4 | 3% |
| Body Fat (kg) | |||||||||||
| Parental Education | 5 | 25% | [77]b,c [77]a,c [69]b,c [69]a,c [50]c | 11 | 55% | [47]b [47]a [33]a [18]a [32]a [53]a [53]b [54]a [46, 58, 67] | 4 | 20% | [33]b [32]b[54]b [34] | 20 | 16% |
| Composite SEP | 5 | 83% | [77]b,c [77]a,c [69]b,c [69]a,c [56]a,c | 1 | 17% | [41]b,c | 0 | – | – | 6 | 5% |
| Income | 0 | – | – | 2 | 40% | [29]b[29]a | 3 | 60% | [33]b [33]a [34] | 5 | 4% |
| Occupational Social Class | 0 | – | – | 3 | 75% | [32]a [48, 64] | 1 | 25% | [32]b | 4 | 3% |
| Miscellaneous | 1 | 33% | [50]c | 0 | – | – | 2 | 66% | [50]c [50]c | 3 | 2% |
| Fat Mass Index | |||||||||||
| Parental Education | 4 | 40% | [77]b,c [77]a,c [69]b,c [69]a,c | 4 | 40% | [44]a [36, 55, 73] | 2 | 40% | [44]b [31] | 10 | 8% |
| Composite SEP | 5 | 63% | [77]b,c [77]a,c [69]b,c [69]a,c [51]c | 1 | 12.5% | [75] | 2 | 25% | [30]a,c[30]b,c | 8 | 7% |
| PIR | 0 | – | – | 3 | 100% | [65]b [65]a[66] | 0 | – | – | 3 | 2% |
| Occupational Social Class | 0 | – | – | 1 | 33% | [38]b | 2 | 66% | [38]a [31] | 3 | 2% |
| Miscellaneous | 0 | – | – | 0 | – | – | 1 | 50% | [36, 39] | 2 | 2% |
| Overall Distribution of Associations | |||||||||||
| Fat Measures Combined | |||||||||||
| Combined SEP | 27% | 42% | 31% | 124 | 100% | ||||||
| Combined SEP (HIC) | 0% | 66% | 34% | 70 | 56% | ||||||
| Combined SEP (MIC) | 61% | 11% | 28% | 54 | 44% | ||||||
Positive associations indicate an increase in fat measure with an increase in socioeconomic advantage; inverse associations indicate a decrease in fat measure with an increase in socioeconomic advantage. Miscellaneous SEP measures are where less than two papers reported on the measure.
aIndicates results for girls only.
bIndicates results for boys only.
cIndicates study conducted in a MIC.