Individual- and School-Level Sociodemographic Predictors of Obesity Among New York City Public School Children

To identify student- and school-level sociodemographic characteristics associated with overweight and obesity, the authors conducted cross-sectional analyses of data from 624,204 public school children (kindergarten through 12th grade) who took part in the 20072008 New York City Fitnessgram Program. The overall prevalence of obesity was 20.3, and the prevalence of overweight was 17.6. In multivariate models, the odds of being obese as compared with normal weight were higher for boys versus girls (odds ratio (OR) 1.39, 95 confidence interval (CI): 1.36, 1.42), for black (OR 1.11, 95 CI: 1.07, 1.15) and Hispanic (OR 1.48, 95 CI: 1.43, 1.53) children as compared with white children, for children receiving reduced-price (OR 1.17, 95 CI: 1.13, 1.21) or free (OR 1.12, 95 CI: 1.09, 1.15) school lunches as compared with those paying full price, and for US-born students (OR 1.54, 95 CI: 1.50, 1.58) as compared with foreign-born students. After adjustment for individual-level factors, obesity was associated with the percentage of students who were US-born (across interquartile range (75th percentile vs. 25th), OR 1.10, 95 CI: 1.07, 1.14) and the percentage of students who received free or reduced-price lunches (across interquartile range, OR 1.13, 95 CI: 1.10, 1.18). The authors conclude that individual sociodemographic characteristics and school-level sociodemographic composition are associated with obesity among New York City public school students.