Variation in the Socioeconomic Gradient of Obesity by Ethnicity – England’s National Child Measurement Programme

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the prevalence and risk of overweight/obesity among expanded ethnicity categories within boys and girls in England and the differential influence of socioeconomic position using the 2015/2016 and the 2016/2017 cycles of the National Child Measurement Programme. METHODS: This cross‐sectional and descriptive study examined surveillance data of weight status among primary school children in England. Data were pooled across data collection years, representing 1.25 million children in Reception (aged 4‐5 years) and 1.1 million children in Year 6 (aged 10‐11 years). Ethnicity was classified according to National Health Service definitions, and child residence was used to calculate quintiles of Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index. Measured weight status was classified using the International Obesity Task Force’s definition. Logistic regression models were run for each sex and year group. RESULTS: Within each sex, ethnicity‐ and socioeconomic‐specific differentials in overweight/obesity prevalence were evident. For example, among the five most populous ethnic groups in the most deprived quintile, 26.8% of White British girls in Reception had overweight/obesity compared with 20.7% of girls with Pakistani, 31.2% with Black African, 17.1% with Indian, and 22.2% with any Any Other White (e.g., White European) background. CONCLUSIONS: Ethnicity had an independent influence on overweight/obesity risk after adjustment for socioeconomic position.