Obesity diagnoses in children and adolescents in Norway by immigrant background

Relatively few obese children and adolescents receive specialist treatment. Our aim was to assess associations between risk of receiving an obesity diagnosis in secondary/tertiary health services by socio-economic position and immigrant background in order ultimately to improve equity in health services.

The study population comprised Norwegian-born children aged 2-18 years between 2008 and 2018 (N=1,414,623), identified via the Medical Birth Registry. Cox regressions were used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) of an obesity diagnosis from secondary/tertiary health services (Norwegian Patient Registry) by parental education and household income and by immigrant background.

Higher parental education and household income were associated with a lower hazard of obesity diagnosis regardless of Norwegian versus immigrant background. Compared to having a Norwegian background, having a Latin American (HR=4.12; 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.18-5.34), African (HR=1.54; 95% CI 1.34-1.76) and Asian (HR=1.60; 95% CI 1.48-1.74) background was associated with higher hazard of obesity diagnosis. Adjusted for parental education and household income, corresponding HRs were 3.28 (95% CI 2.95-3.65) for Latin America, 0.95 (95% CI 0.90-1.01) for Africa and 1.08 (95% CI 1.04-1.11) for Asia. Within Asia, those with a background from Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq and Iran had higher hazards than those with a Norwegian background, while those with a background from Vietnam had lower hazards, even after adjusting for parental education and household income.

To ensure more equitable treatment, more knowledge is warranted about health-service access and referral patterns, and underlying population prevalence rates, for obese children and adolescents with different immigrant backgrounds.