The association of socioeconomic status and response to pediatric health behavior and lifestyle obesity treatment in Germany and Sweden: A multiyear, two-cohort observational study

09 Jul 20265 min read1 viewsJournal Feed

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by Marie Auzanneau, Resthie R. Putri, Martin Wannack, Pernilla Danielsson, Stephanie Brandt-Heunemann, Claude Marcus, Susann Weihrauch-Blüher, Stefanie Lanzinger, Emilia Hagman Background Whether socioeconomic status (SES) influences obesity treatment response among children remains unclear.
This study aimed to examine the association between SES and response to health behavior and lifestyle pediatric obesity treatment over 3 years in two European countries. Methods and findings In this two-cohort study, data were obtained from the Swedish Childhood Obesity Treatment Register (BORIS) and the German/Austrian/Swiss Adiposity Patients Register (APV).
SES was divided into quintiles, using individual-level indicators as a composite index in Sweden and an area-level index in Germany. Treatment response was assessed as change in body mass index standard deviation score (BMI SDS) using linear mixed-effects models, obesity remission using Cox regression, and treatment discontinuation within six months using mixed-effects logistic regression.

Clinical Editorial

PLOS Medicine published a clinical update in Research Highlights on 09 Jul 2026.

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