Funding:
Mécenat Santé des Mutuelles AXA
Thesis abstract:
Social health inequalities are especially pronounced in childhood obesity. The higher prevalence of overweight and obesity in disadvantaged population groups is largely attributed to economic constraints, specific socio-cultural factors and suboptimal lifestyles. This PhD aims to better understand the mechanisms driving such social inequalities in young children by focusing on the first thousand days (including pregnancy and the first two years of a child’s life), a critical period for promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors.
Using data from the ELFE birth cohort (https://www.elfe-france.fr/), I will analyze how children’s lifestyle patterns during their first two years of life explain the social gradient in overweight observed between ages 3 and 10. I will focus on various dimensions of parents’ socioeconomic and migration status. Subsequently, employing a socio-ecological model, I will identify the social determinants (both structural and individual) associated with these lifestyle patterns.
However, universal public health programs have demonstrated limited effectiveness among socially disadvantaged populations, highlighting the need for actions incorporating structural levers to strengthen empowerment in health behaviors. Within this context, the ECAIL randomised controlled trial (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03003117), an interventional study conducted with socially vulnerable families, was developed and implemented. I will replicate the analyses previously conducted in ELFE using the ECAIL sample to refine the identification of risk and protective factors for childhood obesity and to develop tailored prevention strategies.
