Relationships between social spending and childhood obesity in OECD countries: an ecological study

ObjectivesThe burden of childhood obesity is clustered among children in low-socioeconomic groups. Social spending on children—public welfare expenditure on families and education—may curb childhood obesity by reducing socioeconomic disadvantages. The objective of this study was to examine the relat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMJ open 2021-02, Vol.11 (2), p.e044205-e044205
Main Authors: Miyawaki, Atsushi, Evans, Charlotte Elizabeth Louise, Lucas, Patricia Jane, Kobayashi, Yasuki
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Body height
Boys
Child
Child poverty
Child welfare
Child, Preschool
Childhood
Childhood obesity
Children
Childrens health
community child health
Cross-Sectional Studies
Ecological studies
Economic development
Economic structure
Education
Expenditures
Female
GDP
Girls
Global Health
Gross Domestic Product
Health Expenditures
health policy
Humans
Industrialized nations
international health services
Low income groups
Male
Obesity
Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development
Pediatric Obesity - epidemiology
Risk factors
Social groups
social medicine
Social security
Socioeconomic status
Unemployment
Young Adult
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Summary:ObjectivesThe burden of childhood obesity is clustered among children in low-socioeconomic groups. Social spending on children—public welfare expenditure on families and education—may curb childhood obesity by reducing socioeconomic disadvantages. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between social spending on children and childhood obesity across the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.DesignEcological study.SettingData on social spending on children were obtained from the OECD Social Expenditure Database and the OECD educational finance indicators dataset during 2000–2015. Data on childhood obesity were obtained from the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration database.ParticipantsAggregated statistics on obesity among children aged 5–19 years, estimated for OECD 35 countries based on the measured height and weight on 31.5 million children.Outcome measuresCountry-level prevalence of obesity among children aged 5–19 years.ResultsIn cross-sectional analyses in 2015, social spending on children was inversely associated with the prevalence of childhood obesity after adjusting for potential confounders (the gross domestic product per capita, unemployment rate, poverty rate, percentage of children aged
ISSN:2044-6055
2044-6055
DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044205