Table 4.
Summary of associations between socioeconomic position and fat-free measures in children.
| SEP indicator | Direction of SEP and body composition association | Total | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positive association | Negative association | No clear direction | |||||||||
| N | % | References | N | % | References | N | % | References | N | % | |
| Fat-Free Mass | |||||||||||
| Miscellaneous | 7 | 100% | [69]b,c [69]a,c [69]b,c [69]a,c [61]b [61]a [48] | 0 | – | – | 0 | – | – | 7 | 10% |
| Fat-Free Mass % | |||||||||||
| SEP | 1 | 25% | [41]b,c | 2 | 50% | [69]b,c [69]a,c | 1 | 25% | [42]c | 4 | 6% |
| Parental Education | 1 | 25% | [42]a,c | 2 | 50% | [69]b,c [69]a,c | 1 | 25% | [42]b,c | 4 | 6% |
| Miscellaneous | 3 | 75% | [61]b [61]a [42]a,c | 0 | – | – | 1 | 25% | [42]b,c | 4 | 6% |
| Fat-Free Mass Index | |||||||||||
| Occupational Social Class | 1 | 33% | [38]a | 0 | – | – | 2 | 66% | [38]b [31] | 3 | 4% |
| Parental Education | 0 | – | – | 0 | – | – | 3 | 100% | [73]d [31, 36] | 3 | 4% |
| Miscellaneous | 1 | 50% | [36] | 0 | – | – | 1 | 50% | [75] | 2 | 3% |
| Dry Lean Mass | |||||||||||
| SEP | 3 | 100% | [42]c [41]b,c [40]c | 0 | – | 0 | – | – | 3 | 4% | |
| Miscellaneous | 2 | 40% | [42]b,c[42]b,c | 0 | – | 3 | 60% | [42]a,c [42]a,c [40]c | 5 | 7% | |
| Lean Mass | |||||||||||
| Parental Education1 | 3 | 43% | [77]a,c[77]b,c[58] | 0 | – | – | 4 | 57% | [18]a [50]c[32, 49] | 7 | 10% |
| SEP | 3 | 100% | [77]a,c[77]b,c[56]a,c | 0 | – | – | 0 | – | – | 3 | 4% |
| Occupational Social Class | 0 | – | – | 0 | – | – | 3 | 100% | [32, 49, 64] | 3 | 4% |
| Miscellaneous | 0 | – | – | 0 | – | – | 4 | 100% | [50]c[50]c[50]c[49] | 4 | 6% |
| Lean Mass % | |||||||||||
| Parental Education | 1 | 33% | [58] | 2 | 66% | [77]a,c[77]b,c | 0 | – | – | 3 | 4% |
| SEP | 0 | – | – | 2 | 100% | [77]a,c[77]b,c | 0 | – | – | 2 | 3% |
| Lean Mass Index | |||||||||||
| SEP | 0 | – | – | 0 | – | – | 3 | 100% | [51]c[77]a,c [77]b,c | 3 | 4% |
| Parental Education | 0 | – | – | 0 | – | – | 2 | 100% | [77]a,c[77]b,c | 2 | 3% |
| Appendicular Skeletal Muscle | |||||||||||
| School Level SEP | 2 | 100% | [61]a[61]b | 0 | – | – | 0 | – | – | 2 | 3% |
| Appendicular Skeletal Muscle % | |||||||||||
| Miscellaneous | 5 | 100% | [63]a [63]b [61]a [61]b [52] | 0 | – | – | 0 | – | – | 5 | 7% |
| Overall Weighted Distribution of Associations | |||||||||||
| Lean Body Measures Combined | |||||||||||
| Combined SEP | 48% | 12% | 41% | 69 | 100% | ||||||
| Combined SEP (HIC) | 55% | 0% | 45% | 29 | 42% | ||||||
| Combined SEP (MIC) | 43% | 20% | 38% | 40 | 58% | ||||||
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.
dIndicates lean body mass instead of FFM.