Race, socioeconomic position and long-term weight gain

PURPOSE: African Americans have higher rates of obesity than white Americans. Our analyses will examine if greater weight gain in African Americans is due to Education, Income, Occupation, or Childhood Socioeconomic Position. Interactions between race and the measures of SEP will be examined to identify race/SEP groups that may be at particularly high risk of weight gain. The role of marital status, number of children, physical activity, eating habits, smoking, alcohol consumption, depression, boredom, and sleep patterns in generating race differences will also be examined. The research will be the first to examine race differences over such a long time period (34 years), the first to use four measures of SEP, and the first to include a measure childhood SEP. METHODS: Mixed models and data collected over 34 years, from the Alameda County Study, will be used to examine the association between race and weight change slopes and baseline weight in men (n = 1213) and women (n = 1442) aged 18–40. PRELIMINARY RESULTS: The initial analysis of race differences revealed that African American men had higher baseline weight (+2.53 kg, P = 0.004) but did not gain significantly more weight (+0.02 kg/year, P = 0.6855) than white men. African American women had higher baseline weight (+4.95 kg, p < .0001) and gained more weight (+0.10kg/year, P = 0.0271) than white women. Controlling for Childhood SEP attenuated the race difference in baseline weight for men by 29.2%. In women the race difference in baseline weight was attenuated by 5%, the race difference in weight gain was reduced by 10%. Further analyses will be complete by the time of the conference.