Proximal and Distal Factors Associated With Obesity in Childhood: An Exploratory Structural Equation Model

Obesity in childhood is complex; structural equation modeling (SEM) offers an approach to ascertain complicated relationships between weight and proximal (health behaviors, child health) and distal (family/household, community) variables. The objective of the study was to use SEM to map the influence of different etiological clusters on obesity in childhood.

Secondary analysis of baseline data from patients and parents enrolled in a multi-site study of pediatric weight management was conducted. The primary outcome was weight status (utilizing percentage above the 95th percentile BMI, %95BMI). SEM was used to evaluate the influences of variables proximal and distal to child weight within the context of the Ecological Model of obesity in childhood.

Complete data on 375 child-parent dyads were imputed. Proximal factors (child stress and mobility, parent BMI) were significantly related to %95BMI; some distal factors (family level) did not have a direct effect on %95BMI, but did indirectly through proximal factors (such as child stress). Other distal factors (neighborhood deprivation represented by the Area Deprivation Index) were significantly related to %95BMI and family-level factors.

Except for the distal factor of neighborhood deprivation, proximal factors were the drivers of weight status. Distal factors did have indirect effects via proximal factors. SEM provides a means to investigate the complex contributors to childhood obesity, and could identify key leverage points for intervention.