title: Individual- and school-level sociodemographic predictors of obesity among New York City public school children.
abstract: To identify student- and school-level sociodemographic characteristics associated with overweight and obesity, the authors conducted cross-sectional analyses of data from 624,204 public school children (kindergarten through 12th grade) who took part in the 2007-2008 New York City Fitnessgram Program. The overall prevalence of obesity was 20.3%, and the prevalence of overweight was 17.6%. In multivariate models, the odds of being obese as compared with normal weight were higher for boys versus girls (odds ratio (OR) = 1.39, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.36, 1.42), for black (OR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.07, 1.15) and Hispanic (OR = 1.48, 95% CI: 1.43, 1.53) children as compared with white children, for children receiving reduced-price (OR = 1.17, 95% CI: 1.13, 1.21) or free (OR = 1.12, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.15) school lunches as compared with those paying full price, and for US-born students (OR = 1.54, 95% CI: 1.50, 1.58) as compared with foreign-born students. After adjustment for individual-level factors, obesity was associated with the percentage of students who were US-born (across interquartile range (75th percentile vs. 25th), OR = 1.10, 95% CI: 1.07, 1.14) and the percentage of students who received free or reduced-price lunches (across interquartile range, OR = 1.13, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.18). The authors conclude that individual sociodemographic characteristics and school-level sociodemographic composition are associated with obesity among New York City public school students.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA. agr3@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rundle
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.forename: Michael D M
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Bader
authors.forename: Ofira
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Schwartz-Soicher
authors.forename: Karen K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.forename: Gina S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Lovasi
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Neckerman
mesh_terms: D000886:Anthropometry; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009519:New York City / Q000453:epidemiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors