Early life socioeconomic circumstances and cardiometabolic health in childhood: Evidence from the Generation XXI cohort

Social adversity is thought to become biologically embedded during sensitive periods of development which could set children on a trajectory of increased risk for later diseases. This study estimated the association between early socioeconomic circumstances and cardiometabolic biomarkers during childhood. We analyzed data from 2962 participants in the birth cohort Generation XXI. Early socioeconomic circumstances included parental education and occupation and household income measured at the child's birth; cardiometabolic biomarkers included a set of parameters that were determined at seven and 10 years old. The association between early socioeconomic circumstances and cardiometabolic biomarkers in children aged seven and 10 years old was estimated using generalized estimating equations. We observed, after adjustment for birth weight, sex, five-a-day fruit and vegetable intake and sedentary activity, that children with low educated mothers presented higher body mass index z-score (beta = 0.22; 95%CI: 0.12, 0.33), higher waist circumference (beta = 1.14; 95%CI: 0.55, 1.73) and increased systolic blood pressure z-score (beta = 0.15; 95%CI: 0.08, 0.22) at the age of seven. At 10 years, children with mothers with low education, presented higher body mass index z-score (beta = 0.32; 95%CI: 0.21, 0.43), higher waist circumference (beta = 2.79; 95%CI: 1.94, 3.64), increased diastolic blood pressure z-score (beta = 0.11; 95%CI: 0.06, 0.17) and increased systolic blood pressure s-score (beta = 0.20; 95%CI: 0.12, 0.28). When repeated measures of cardiometabolic biomarkers were taken into account, the association between socioeconomic circumstances and cardiometabolic biomarkers remained significant. Low socioeconomic circumstances have a possible detrimental effect on children's cardiometabolic health. Thus, socioeconomic adversity might impact health outcomes already in the first decade of life, emphasizing the early social patterning of cardiometabolic health and the need of social policies targeting children and families to modify or reverse its negative impact on health.