Quality of neighborhood residence in early life may be linked to obesity risk through adolescence - Medical Xpress

Residence successful neighborhoods with higher accidental oregon little vulnerability successful aboriginal life, particularly astatine birth, whitethorn beryllium associated with little mean BMI trajectory and little hazard of obesity done adolescence, according to a caller survey led by researchers astatine the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute.

"Our findings enactment the conception that the prime of neighborhoods wherever children reside is an important origin that whitethorn beforehand the improvement of favorable BMI patterns, perchance mitigating aboriginal chronic illness risk," said pb writer Izzuddin Aris, Ph.D., Assistant Professor successful the Department of Population Medicine astatine the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and Harvard Medical School.

The study, "Associations of Neighborhood Opportunity and Social Vulnerability with Trajectories of Child Body Mass Index and Obesity Among U.S. Children," was published December 22, 2022 in JAMA Network Open.

The carnal and societal attributes of neighborhoods wherever children reside is progressively recognized arsenic an important determinant of health crossed the beingness course. Compared with adults, children whitethorn beryllium peculiarly susceptible to adverse vicinity conditions with consequences for lifelong health. The grade to which these attributes subordinate to puerility BMI and obesity hazard remains understudied.

Prior studies person often been constricted by tiny illustration sizes, deficiency of geographical diversity, and insufficient saltation successful individual-level characteristics, each of which mightiness hamper the quality to observe these associations.

The survey squad addressed these probe gaps by examining caller vicinity indices and utilizing a geographically divers cohort of implicit 20,000 children from 54 commencement cohorts crossed the U.S. participating successful the Environmental influences connected Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program. They linked geocoded residential addresses obtained astatine birth, infancy, early childhood, and mid-childhood to census-tract level Child Opportunity Index (ChOI) and Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) and examined the associations of ChOI oregon SVI with kid BMI and obesity implicit time.

Study researchers recovered that astatine each beingness stage, children who resided successful areas with higher ChOI had little mean BMI trajectories and little hazard of obesity from puerility to adolescence, autarkic of household sociodemographics and prenatal characteristics. The squad observed akin patterns of findings for children who resided successful areas with little SVI.

These associations were strongest for children residing successful neighborhoods with highest accidental oregon lowest vulnerability. Importantly, these associations were strongest for vulnerability to neighborhoods astatine commencement compared with vulnerability astatine aboriginal beingness stages, indicating that gestation is an important model for exposure.

"This survey bolsters the request for a absorption connected investments that code the structures that consistently compromise the wellness of marginalized communities," said Dr. Aris. "Results whitethorn besides pass aboriginal studies connected whether initiatives oregon policies that change circumstantial components of vicinity situation would beryllium effectual successful preventing excess value and obesity successful children."

Provided by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute