Economic Disadvantage During Childhood, Obesity, and Diabetes Across Three Birth Cohorts of Older Mexicans

Jesús-Daniel Zazueta-Borboa, Rafael Samper-Ternent, Rebeca Wong and Neil Mehta

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2024, vol. 79, issue 12, 179-185

Abstract: ObjectivesDiabetes prevalence has increased markedly in Mexico. We examined the individual and joint contributions of economic disadvantage during childhood (EDDC) and elevated body weight on diabetes prevalence in 3 cohorts of Mexican adults.MethodsData on those 60–69 years old from the 1930–1939, 1940–1949, and 1950–1959 birth cohorts in Waves 1 (2001), 3 (2012), and 5 (2018) of the Mexican Health and Aging Study were used. EDDC was defined as the absence of a toilet in the household before age 10. Body mass status was defined using self-reported perceived body image at age 50. Diabetes was based on respondent reports. Supplementary analyses using HbA1c as a criterion for diabetes were conducted. A regression-decomposition approach was implemented. Logistic regression models included adjustments for sociodemographic characteristics and access to medical care.ResultsDiabetes prevalence was 23% overall and 11%, 25%, and 26% in the 1930–1939, 1940–1949, and 1950–1959 cohorts, respectively. EDDC declined across successive cohorts, whereas the prevalence of overweight/obesity at age 50 increased. EDDC and overweight/obesity were associated with higher odds of reporting diabetes. A scenario that eliminates disadvantaged EDDC reduced diabetes prevalence by 11% in a pooled sample, while eliminating overweight/obesity reduced it by 30%. Overweight/obesity explained 42% of the rise in diabetes prevalence between the 1930–1939 and 1950–1959 cohorts. Improvement in EDDC explained 18% of the rise in diabetes prevalence between 1930–1939 and 1950–1959 cohorts.DiscussionHigh body weight across Mexican birth cohorts seemed to offset the potential benefits from improvements in childhood conditions on adult diabetes risk.

Keywords: Cohorts; Early childhood conditions; Mexico; MHAS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/geronb/gbae178 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:geronb:v:79:y:2024:i:12:p:179-185.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

The Journals of Gerontology: Series B is currently edited by Psychological Sciences - S. Duke Han, PhD and Social Sciences - Jessica A Kelley, PhD, FGSA

More articles in The Journals of Gerontology: Series B from The Gerontological Society of America Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().