[Changes in structure and socioeconomic position of the family as determinants of overweight in adolescents].
BACKGROUND
Previous studies on relationships between the current family structure, socioeconomic status and family members' body mass don't give unequivocal results. A life course perspective evaluates the contribution of early life factors jointly with later life factors to identify risk and protective processes.


OBJECTIVE
The relationship between economic status, family structure in first and thirteenth year of life, their changes in this period and overweight among 13-year olds in Poland.


METHODS
A study sample was the prospective cohort of 11 937 children enrolled in the observation in neonatal period, examined in the third year of life (questionnaire survey of 1250 mothers) and at the age of thirteen (561 children and their parents fulfilled questionnaires, children's height and weight were measured). Overweight criteria was BMI >85 percentile using WHO 2007 growth reference.


RESULTS
Higher prevalence of overweight was found in adolescents living in single-parent families than in 2-parent families (30.2% vs. 19.5%; p=0.049). The highest prevalence of adolescents' overweight was observed in families, whose structure changed during 13 years (in ""broken"" families - 32.7%, in reconstructed - 36.4%, p=0.033); the risk of overweight in these children increased twice compared to intact families. Adolescents from families whose reported economic status worsened during 13 years, were twice more likely to be overweight than their peers from middle and high economic status families (p=0.057).


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of overweight among adolescents in 2-parent families is significantly lower than in other family types. Unfavorable changes in family economic status and structure are the strongest redictors of overweight in 13-year-olds.
Zaklad Ochrony i Promocji Zdrowa Dzieci i Mlodziezy Instytutu Matki i Dziecka w Warszawie. izabela.tabak@imid.med.pl
Izabela
I
Tabak
Anna
A
Oblacińska
Maria
M
Jodkowska
Krystyna
K
Mikiel-Kostyra
D000293:Adolescent; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009679:Nuclear Family; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D020954:Single-Parent Family / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors