title: The association of socio-economic factors with physical fitness and activity behaviours, spinal posture and retinal vessel parameters in first graders in urban Switzerland.
abstract: Socio-economic status during childhood has been shown to be a strong predictor of adult health outcome. Therefore, we examined associations of parental educational level, household income and migrant background with physical fitness, spinal flexibility, spinal posture as well as retinal vessel diameters in children of an urban Swiss region. A total of 358 first graders of the Swiss canton Basel-Stadt (age: 7.3, SD: 0.4) were examined. Physical fitness (20 m shuttle run test, 20 m sprint, jumping sidewards and balancing backwards), spinal flexibility and spinal posture (MediMouse®, Idiag, Fehraltdorf, Switzerland) and retinal microcirculation (Static Retinal Vessel Analyzer, Imedos Systems UG, Jena, Germany) were assessed. Parental education, household income, migrant background and activity behaviour were evaluated with a questionnaire. Parental education was associated with child aerobic fitness (P = 0.03) and screen time (P < 0.001). Household income was associated with jumping sidewards (P = 0.009), balancing backwards (P = 0.03) and sports club participation (P = 0.02). Migrant background was associated with BMI (P = 0.001), body fat (P = 0.03), aerobic fitness (P = 0.007), time spent playing outdoors (P < 0.001) and screen time (P < 0.001). For spinal flexibility and retinal vessel diameter, no associations were found (0.06 < P < 0.8). Low parental education, low household income and a migrant background are associated with poor physical fitness, higher BMI and body fat percentage and low-activity behaviour.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, Medical Faculty , University of Basel , Basel-Stadt , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Imhof
authors.affiliation: a Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, Medical Faculty , University of Basel , Basel-Stadt , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Faude
authors.affiliation: a Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, Medical Faculty , University of Basel , Basel-Stadt , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Donath
authors.affiliation: a Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, Medical Faculty , University of Basel , Basel-Stadt , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Salome
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bean-Eisenhut
authors.affiliation: a Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, Medical Faculty , University of Basel , Basel-Stadt , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Henner
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hanssen
authors.affiliation: a Department of Sport, Exercise and Health, Medical Faculty , University of Basel , Basel-Stadt , Switzerland.
authors.forename: Lukas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zahner
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D004522:Educational Status; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D015444:Exercise; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010809:Physical Fitness; D011187:Posture; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013131:Spine / Q000502:physiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013557:Switzerland
keywords: Parental education; back pain; household income; migrant background; spinal flexibility