The association of race, socioeconomic status, and health insurance status with the prevalence of overweight among children and adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
We examined the effect of race, socioeconomic status, and health insurance status on the prevalence of overweight among children and adolescents.


METHODS
We studied an observational cohort from the 1996 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component.


RESULTS
In the younger group, both Black and Latino children had a greater likelihood of being overweight compared with White children. Among the adolescent group, Latinos and Asian/Pacific Islanders were more likely to be overweight. Among adolescents, lacking health insurance and having public insurance were both positively associated with the prevalence of overweight. A relationship between insurance status and overweight was not observed for younger children.


CONCLUSIONS
There are substantial racial differences in the prevalence of overweight for children and adolescents. Health insurance status is associated with the prevalence of overweight among adolescents.
Haas
Jennifer S
JS
Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. jhaas@partners.org
Lee
Lisa B
LB
Kaplan
Celia P
CP
Sonneborn
Dean
D
Phillips
Kathryn A
KA
Liang
Su-Ying
SY
D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000367:Age Factors; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D005102:Health Expenditures; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D044468:Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009765:Obesity / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D015995:Prevalence; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data