Socioeconomic inequalities in child obesity and overweight in Portugal

The purpose of this paper is to assess the association between socioeconomic status and child overweight/obesity in Portugal and to evaluate income-related inequalities in its distribution.

Data come from the last Portuguese National Health Survey (2005/2006) – sample of 6,903 observations. To define child overweight/obesity, the International Obesity Task Force cut-offs for body mass index (BMI) were used; the logistic regression analysis was adopted to explain the risk of overweight/obesity and inequality was measured by means of concentration curve and index.

The evidence obtained points to income-related inequalities in child overweight/obesity favourable to the better-off. The probability of child overweight/obesity was lower for higher income households, but up to a certain point a positive association between income and caloric food intake was found. The concentration index obtained was −0.072 (p-value<0.001).

Some data limitations, no information on: physical exercise; sleeping habits; parents’ education and BMI; age is coded in groups. Although the data are from 2005/2006, the current analysis is useful to future works aiming to discuss the impact of the economic and financial crisis which occurred after these data were collected.

It is important to tailor policies targeting child obesity/overweight in order to tackle not only the prevalence of this disease but also its distribution.

Drawing attention on inequalities in child obesity/overweight in Portugal as the vast majority of studies have focussed on prevalence. The middle income effect is an issue raised in this work which deserves further investigation.