Social Circumstances and Education

Life Course Origins of Social Inequalities in Metabolic Risk in a Prospective National Birth Cohort

Bibliographic Data

ID11019073
AuthorsC Langenberg (0000-0002-5017-7344, Public Health England), Diana Kuh (0000-0001-7386-2857, Claudia Langenberg and Eric Brunner are with the International Centre for Health and Society, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, England. Diana Kuh, Michael E.J. Wadsworth, and Rebecca Hardy are with the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London.), Michael Wadsworth (Public Health England), Michael E J Wadsworth (Claudia Langenberg and Eric Brunner are with the International Centre for Health and Society, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, England. Diana Kuh, Michael E.J. Wadsworth, and Rebecca Hardy are with the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London.), E Brunner (0000-0002-0595-4474, Public Health England), Roger Hardy (0000-0001-9949-0799, Public Health England), Rebecca Hardy (0000-0003-4953-273X, Claudia Langenberg and Eric Brunner are with the International Centre for Health and Society, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, England. Diana Kuh, Michael E.J. Wadsworth, and Rebecca Hardy are with the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London.)
Year2006
Volume96
Issue12
Pages2216-2221
Publication date2006-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Public Health (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0090-0036 • E-ISSN: 1541-0048
PublisherAmerican Public Health Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2105/ajph.2004.049429
PMID17077402
PMCIDPMC1698170
OpenAlexW1982368271
LanguageEN
Citations received29
References cited26

Objectives. We investigated the relative importance of education and childhood and adult social class in the risk of metabolic syndrome. Methods. We conducted a prospective birth cohort study of 1311 men and 1318 women aged 53 years in 1999, when metabolic syndrome components were measured. Logistic regression analyses were used to calculate relative index of inequality estimates. Results. Relative to men and women at the highest education levels, men (odds ratio [OR]=2.0; 95% confidence interval [CI]=1.2, 3.2) and women (OR=2.7; 95% CI=1.5, 4.6) with the least education were at twice the risk or more of having the metabolic syndrome. Adjustment for childhood and adult social class strengthened this result among men and weakened it among women. Childhood social class was independently associated with the metabolic syndrome in women (OR=2.0; 95% CI=1.1, 3.6) but not in men (OR=1.1; 95% CI= 0.7, 1.8). Associations between adult social class and the metabolic syndrome or its components were largely accounted for by childhood socioeconomic measures. Conclusions. Educational differences should be considered in the design of interventions aimed at reducing the burden of the metabolic syndrome in socially disadvantaged groups

Cohort · Cohort study · Confidence interval · Developmental psychology · Disadvantaged · Environmental health · Inequality · Life course approach · Logistic regression · Metabolic syndrome · National Child Development Study · Obesity · Odds ratio · Population · Prospective cohort study · Relative risk · Social class · Social inequality · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · Demography · Diabetes, Cardiovascular Risks, and Lipoproteins · Health disparities and outcomes · Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Psychology · Gerontology