Effect of parents country of birth on the relationship between socioeconomic status and childhood overweight and obesity in Southwest Sydney, Australia: learnings from the Growing Healthy Kids population prevalence survey

BackgroundChildhood obesity is a major public health concern in Australia and the multicultural population of South-West Sydney. This study examined the influence of parents country of birth (COB) on the association between family socio-economic status (SES), assessed by area-level disadvantage and annual household income, and childhood obesity. MethodsThe analysis of data from the cross-sectional Growing Healthy Kids in Southwest Sydney (GHK-SWS) baseline survey of 1,815 children aged 5-16 years living in South Western Sydney, Australia employed generalised linear multinomial mixed models, with results presented as odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals. ResultsThis study found a significant relationship between SES measures and the risk of overweight and obesity in the study population. The risks of childhood obesity are greatest in lower socioeconomic groups (across both SES metrics) regardless of their parents COB status. However, the overweight results are inconsistent across SES metrics and COB status. The risk of being overweight was lower for Australian-born parents living in disadvantaged areas but higher for those reporting lower income; and higher for Overseas-born parents living in disadvantaged areas but lower for those reporting low household income. ConclusionParents SES is a consistent predictor of childhood obesity, and this relationship is not modified by parents COB. However, the likelihood of a child being overweight varied between the parents SES measures and COB. Prioritisation of the target population for area-level preventive public health interventions to modify obesogenic factors is recommended for a) obese children living in most disadvantaged areas and moderate disadvantaged areas regardless of their parents COB; b) overweight and obese children of moderate disadvantaged areas regardless of their parents COB.