Higher socioeconomic status is related to healthier levels of fatness and fitness already at 3 to 5 years of age: The PREFIT project

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to analyse the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and fatness and fitness in preschoolers. 2,638 preschoolers (3–5 years old; 47.2% girls) participated. SES was estimated from the parental educational and occupational levels, and the marital status. Fatness was assessed by body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). Physical fitness components were assessed using the PREFIT battery. Preschoolers whose parents had higher educational levels had lower fatness (P < 0.05). BMI significantly differed across occupational levels of each parent (P < 0.05) and WHtR across paternal levels (P = 0.004). Musculoskeletal fitness was different across any SES factor (P < 0.05), except handgrip across paternal occupational levels (P ≥ 0.05). Preschoolers with high paternal occupation had higher speed/agility (P = 0.005), and those with high or low maternal education had higher VO₂max (P = 0.046). Odds of being obese and having low musculoskeletal fitness was lower as SES was higher (P < 0.05). Those with married parents had higher cardiorespiratory fitness than single-parent ones (P = 0.010). School-based interventions should be aware of that children with low SES are at a higher risk of obesity and low fitness already in the first years of life.

KEYWORDS:

• Body composition
• physical fitness
• preschoolers
• socioeconomic factors

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the preschool and children students, parents, and teachers for their participation in this study. We are grateful to Ms. Carmen Sainz-Quinn for assistance with the English language.

Disclosure of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ramón y Cajal Grant held by FBO (RYC-2011-09011). JM-G is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (FPU 14/06837). CC-S is supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BES-2014-068829). FBO is supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RYC- 2011–09011). The PREFIT Cuenca group was funded by Health and Social Research Center from the University of Castilla-La Mancha. Additional funding was obtained from the University of Granada, Plan Propio de Investigación 2016, Excellence actions: Units of Excellence; Unit of Excellence on Exercise and Health (UCEES). In addition, funding was provided by the SAMID III network, RETICS, the PN I + D + I 2017–2021 (Spain), ISCIII-Sub-Directorate General for Research Assessment and Promotion, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (Ref. RD16/0022) and the EXERNET Research Network on Exercise and Health in Special Populations (DEP2005-00046/ACTI). This study is part of Ignacio Merino de Haro’s PhD thesis, from the Nutrition and Food Sciences Doctorate Program of the University of Granada. This study is part of Ignacio Merino de Haro's PhD thesis from the Nutrition and Food Sciences Doctorate Program of the University of Granada.