595 - School-Level Socioeconomic Factors are Associated with a Higher Prevalence of Obesity

Poster Number: 595
Publication Number: 595.3299

Background: Obesity rates among adolescents in Texas are above the national average, particularly among Hispanic and African American students. This trend is alarming since obesity is a major risk factor for chronic diseases including type II diabetes and hypertension. Research shows an association between neighborhood-level socioeconomic status and obesity risk.

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the association between the socioeconomic status of neighborhoods and the prevalence of obesity among middle and high school students in Texas. We hypothesized that school socioeconomic disadvantage would be associated with a higher prevalence of obesity.

Design/Methods: Using preexisting data from the Houston Pediatric and Adolescent Hypertension Program dataset, we clustered students into 28 neighborhoods based on their school of matriculation. To account for student-level social risk factors, the Area Deprivation Index (ADI) was used as a proxy for socioeconomic status. A weighted ADI was calculated for each school to reflect its catchment area and categorized into quartiles with the fourth quartile corresponding to the most disadvantaged school neighborhood. We defined obesity as a BMI greater than the 95th percentile for age and sex.

Results: Most students attended school in the least socially deprived neighborhoods (46.8%), compared to the most socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods (10.4%) as identified using weighted ADI. Of 21,392 students, (mean age = 13 years), 19.4% of students were obese, with a higher prevalence of obesity in Hispanic students (42.5%) and African American students (29.1%), compared to White students (22.8%). Based on ADI quartiles, students attending school in the most socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods had the highest prevalence of obesity (Figure 1). Multivariable logistic regression revealed that being Hispanic, African American and attending school in a socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhood were significantly associated with an increased prevalence of obesity (Table 1). We observed a stepwise increase in obesity prevalence among Hispanic and African American students across increasing ADI quartiles (Figure 2).

Conclusion(s): School-level socioeconomic factors play a significant role in the escalating obesity epidemic especially among Hispanic and African American adolescents. Findings from this study underscores the prevailing notion that socioeconomic disparities between schools contribute to the prevalence of chronic diseases in the United States. There is an urgent need for interventions aimed at addressing the widening obesity disparities.