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Diet and physical activity as possible mediators of the association between educational attainment and body mass index gain among Australian adults

journal contribution
posted on 2018-09-01, 00:00 authored by Emma Gearon, Anna PeetersAnna Peeters, Winda Ng, Allison Hodge, Kathryn BackholerKathryn Backholer
OBJECTIVES: To quantify the mediating role of leisure time physical activity (LTPA) and five dietary behaviours on educational differences in 13-year body mass index (BMI) gain across adulthood. METHODS: Participants from the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study (4791 women; 3103 men) who maintained or gained BMI over 1990-1994 to 2003-2007 and met our inclusion criteria were selected. Education, potential mediators and confounders (age, alcohol, and smoking) were measured at baseline. We conducted sex-specific multiple mediation analyses using MacKinnon's product of coefficients method. RESULTS: A higher educational attainment was associated with a 0.27 kg m-2 (95% CI 0.14, 0.39) lesser 13-year BMI gain among women only. We observed significant indirect effects of educational attainment on 13-year BMI gain through LTPA and nutrient-rich foods (each associated with a higher educational attainment and lesser 13-year BMI gain) and diet soft drink (associated with a lower educational attainment and greater 13-year BMI gain), which mediated 10, 15 and 20% of this relationship, respectively (45% in total). CONCLUSIONS: Nutrient-rich foods, LTPA and diet soft drink may represent effective public health targets to reduce inequities in excess weight across adulthood.

History

Journal

International journal of public health

Volume

63

Issue

7

Pagination

883 - 893

Publisher

Springer

Location

Berlin, Germany

ISSN

1661-8556

eISSN

1661-8564

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2018, Springer