Social inequalities and trends in pre-pregnancy body mass index in Swedish women

Abstract

Obesity rates in adolescence and young adulthood have increased in Sweden, reflecting global trends. To which extent this occurs across different socioeconomic strata has not been clarified. The aim of the present study was to investigate trends in social inequalities in body mass index (BMI) in young/mid-adulthood Swedish women. We obtained weight and height for all women aged 20–45 years, at their first registered pregnancy (< 12 weeks of gestation) in the Swedish Medical Birth Register 1982–2013 (1,022,330, mean age = 28.8 years), documenting education and county of residence. Trends in mean BMI and in the prevalence of BMI categories between 1982 and 2013 were estimated across education levels and geographical location. Overall, mean BMI increased from 22.7 kg/m2 (SD 3.2) to 24.3 kg/m2 (SD 4.4) between 1982 and 2013. Simultaneously, the prevalence of overweight and obesity (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2) increased from 18.1 to 33.4% while that of moderate obesity (BMI ≥ 30 to < 35 kg/m2) and severe obesity (BMI ≥ 35 kg/m2) increased markedly from 3.4 and 0.4% to 7.4 and 3.1%, respectively. The prevalence of moderate and severe obesity more than doubled during the study period across all educational levels. In conclusion, BMI and moderate and severe obesity increased markedly among young/mid-adulthood Swedish women regardless of education with a widening gap between those with lower and higher education. These growing social inequalities in BMI are likely to cause a rising divide in serious health problems following early and long-lasting obesity.

Maternal first trimester metabolic profile in pregnancies with transposition of the great arteries

“…In the United States, the prevalence of prepregnancy obesity increased by 8% from 2011 to 2015 (Deputy et al, 2018), and the increase continued from 26.1% in 2016 to 29% in 2019 (Driscoll & Gregory, 2020). In a Swedish population‐based study with 1,022,330 women, the prevalence of prepregnancy obesity increased from 3.8% to 10.5% between 1983 and 2013 (Lundberg et al, 2021). We chose to study TGA, as maternal obesity has been associated with this CHD subgroup (Hautala et al, 2019; Persson et al, 2019), and the defect can be clearly defined anatomically.…”

The incidence of childhood-onset type 1 diabetes, time trends and association with the population composition in Sweden: a 40 year follow-up

“…Another risk factor for type 1 diabetes in the Swedish setting is maternal BMI, particularly obesity in the first trimester [ 27 ]. However, a recent study indicates that there have been lower rates of increase in BMI and obesity prevalence in Swedish women since the early 2000s [ 28 ].…”

Relationships between maternal body mass index and child cognitive outcomes at 3 years of age are buffered by specific early environments in a prospective Canadian birth cohort

“…BMI itself may also be a proxy for social gradients. 63,64 However, limitations in available data and restrictions on further analyses due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic prevent us from exploring these relationships further at this time. Even so, our results highlight the importance of these social and environmental variables even within a relatively homogenous population, and should be thoroughly explored in populations with greater ethnic and socio-economic diversity in the future.…”