title: Socioeconomic status and anthropometric changes-A meta-analytic approach from seven German cohorts.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and annual relative change in anthropometric markers in the general German adult population.
  
  
  METHODS
  Longitudinal data of 56,556 participants aged 18-83 years from seven population-based German cohort studies (CARLA, SHIP, KORA, DEGS, EPIC-Heidelberg, EPIC-Potsdam, PopGen) were analyzed by meta-analysis using a random-effects model. The indicators of SES were education and household income.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On average, all participants gained weight and increased their waist circumference over the study's follow-up period. Men and women in the low education group had a 0.1 percentage points greater annual increase in weight (95% CI men: 0.06-0.20; and women: 0.06-0.12) and waist circumference (95% CI men: 0.01-0.45; and women: 0.05-0.22) than participants in the high education group. Women with low income had a 0.1 percentage points higher annual increase in weight (95% CI 0.00-0.15) and waist circumference (95% CI 0.00-0.14) than women with high income. No association was found for men between income and obesity markers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Participants with lower SES (education and for women also income) gained more weight and waist circumference than those with higher SES. These results underline the necessity to evaluate the risk of weight gain based on SES to develop more effective preventive measures.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Informatics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: Beatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Informatics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: Maria E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Lacruz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Informatics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Haerting
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Informatics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: Saskia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hartwig
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Informatics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tiller
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Informatics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Medenwald
authors.affiliation: Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vogt
authors.affiliation: Institute of Epidemiology II, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thorand
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health Economics and Health Care Management, Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Holle
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition, Potsdam-Nuthetal, Germany.
authors.forename: Ursula
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bachlechner
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition, Potsdam-Nuthetal, Germany.
authors.forename: Heiner
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Boeing
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Benedikt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Merz
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.|Institute of Epidemiology, Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Ute
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Nöthlings
authors.affiliation: Institute of Epidemiology, Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schlesinger
authors.affiliation: Institute for Community Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schipf
authors.affiliation: Institute for Community Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Till
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ittermann
authors.affiliation: Institute for Community Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Aumann
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring, Robert Koch-Institute, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schienkiewitz
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring, Robert Koch-Institute, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Marjolein
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haftenberger
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Karin H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Greiser
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Jasmine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neamat-Allah
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Verena
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Katzke
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Informatics, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kluttig
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000379:methods; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012923:Social Class; D055105:Waist Circumference; D015430:Weight Gain; D055815:Young Adult