Risk Management and Healthcare Policy (Nov 2020)

Association Between Parental Socioeconomic Status and Skeletal Muscle Mass in Chinese College Students: Fitness Improvement Tactics in Youths (FITYou) Project

  • Tian Y,
  • Zhong F,
  • Li C,
  • Wu C,
  • Zou J,
  • Wang Q,
  • Song Z,
  • Cui Y,
  • Sun X,
  • Huang C

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 2457 – 2467

Abstract

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Ying Tian,1 Fei Zhong,2 Cheng Li,3 Chunchun Wu,2 Jiaqi Zou,1 Qiang Wang,1 Zhengxue Song,1 Yufei Cui,4,5 Xiaomin Sun,6 Cong Huang2,5 1College of Sports Science, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Sports and Exercise Science, College of Education, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Grain Science and Industry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA; 4Institute of Exercise Epidemiology and Department of Physical Education, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai’an, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan; 6Department of Nutrition and Food Safety, School of Public Health, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi’an, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Cong HuangDepartment of Sports and Exercise Science, College of Education, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou 310058, People’s Republic of ChinaEmail [email protected]: The purpose of this study was to determine the association between parental socioeconomic status (SES) and skeletal muscle mass in Chinese college students.Methods: A cross-sectional study including 2204 college freshmen was conducted in Shenyang, China. Data regarding body composition, health examinations, and a self-reported questionnaire were available from all the participants. Skeletal muscle mass assessment was completed by a bioelectrical impedance analyzer. Information on parental SES (educational levels, annual income, and occupational status) was collected via questionnaires. Covariance analysis was used to adjust for the confounding effects of sex, age, ethnicity, smoking status, alcohol use, and sleep duration.Results: Multivariate analysis showed that college freshmen with higher parental SES levels generally had higher skeletal muscle mass after adjustment for confounding factors (mean [95% confidence interval]: low, 42.4 [42.0, 42.8]; middle, 42.9 [42.6, 43.3]; high, 43.7 [43.4, 44.1], p for trend < 0.001). Similar results were observed for paternal and maternal SES (p for trend < 0.001, respectively), whereas association between paternal SES and youth muscle mass became non-significant after adjusting for maternal SES (p for trend = 0.077). Results also showed positive linear trends for skeletal muscle mass and paternal or maternal educational levels and annual income (p for trend < 0.001, respectively), but not for occupational status.Conclusion: This study found a positive association between parental SES and skeletal muscle mass in Chinese college students. Compared to the normalization of height or weight, body mass index-adjusted skeletal muscle mass is more likely to be associated with SES.Keywords: educational status, annual income, occupational status, muscular fitness, youth

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