TY - GEN A1 - Reuter, Marvin A1 - Diehl, Katharina A1 - Richter, Matthias A1 - Sundmacher, Leonie A1 - Hövener, Claudia A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Dragano, Nico T1 - A longitudinal analysis of health inequalities from adolescence to young adulthood and their underlying causes T2 - Advances in Lifecourse Research N2 - Research suggests that children of low-educated parents face greater health burdens during the passage from adolescence to young adulthood, as they are more likely to become low-educated themselves, establish behavioural and psychosocial disadvantages, or being exposed to unhealthy working conditions. However, studies examining the development and drivers of health inequalities during this particular life stage are limited in number and have produced varied results. This study investigates trajectories of self-rated health and overweight from 14 to 25 years of age, stratified by parental education, and explores the role of potential mediators (educational achievement, health behaviours, psychosocial factors, working conditions). We rely on prospective cohort data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), a representative sample of 14,981 German ninth graders interviewed yearly from 2011 to 2021 (n = 90,096 person-years). First, we estimated random-effects growth curves for self-rated health and overweight over participants’ age and calculated the average marginal effect of high versus low parental education. Second, a series of simulation-based mediation analyses were performed to test how much of health inequalities were explained by children’s educational attainment (years of school education, years in university), health behaviours (smoking, alcohol, physical inactivity), psychosocial factors (number of grade repetitions, years in unemployment, chronic stress, self-esteem) and working conditions (physical and psychosocial job demands). We accounted for potential confounding by controlling for age, sex, migration background, residential area, household composition, and interview mode. Results show that higher parental education was related to higher self-rated health and lower probabilities of being overweight. Interaction between parental education and age indicated that, after some equalisation in late adolescence, health inequalities increased in young adulthood. Furthermore, educational attainment, health behaviours, psychosocial factors, and early-career working conditions played a significant role in mediating health inequalities. Of the variables examined, the level of school education and years spent in university were particular strong mediating factors. School education accounted for around one-third of the inequalities in self-rated health and one-fifth of the differences in overweight among individuals. Results support the idea that the transition to adulthood is a sensitive period in life and that early socio-economic adversity increases the likelihood to accumulate health disadvantages in multiple dimensions. In Germany, a country with comparatively low educational mobility, intergenerational continuities in class location seem to play a key role in the explanation of health inequalities in youth. KW - Health Inequalities KW - Adolescence KW - School to work transition KW - Socio-economic position Y1 - 2024 UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1569490924000042?via%3Dihub U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.alcr.2024.100593 SN - 1879-6974 VL - Vol. 59 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Bammert, Philip A1 - Schüttig, Wiebke A1 - Iashchenko, Iryna A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Rattay, Petra A1 - Schneider, Sven A1 - Richter, Matthias A1 - Pischke, Claudia R. A1 - Dragano, Nico A1 - Sundmacher, Leonie T1 - The role of sociodemographic, psychosocial, and behavioral factors in the use of preventive healthcare services in children and adolescents: results of the KiGGS Wave 2 study T2 - BMC Pediatrics N2 - Background: In Germany, various preventive services are offered to children and adolescents. These include regular standardized examinations (so called U/J examinations) and several vaccinations. Although strongly recommended, most of them are not mandatory. Our aim is to identify factors associated with the use of U/J examinations and vaccination against diphtheria, hepatitis B, Hib, pertussis, polio, and tetanus. While previous research has focused on sociodemographic factors, we also include socioeconomic, behavioral, and psychosocial factors. Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional data from 15,023 participants (aged 0-17 years) of the nationwide representative KiGGS Wave 2 Survey. Participation in U/J examinations was assessed using a questionnaire, filled out by participants and/or their parents. Information on vaccination status was drawn from the participants' vaccination booklets. To identify relevant determinants for the use of preventive examinations and vaccinations, unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression models were employed with up to 16 different independent variables. Results: Various independent variables showed an association with the use of preventive services. Higher socioeconomic status, absence of migration background, and lower household size were associated with significantly higher utilization of U examinations. Parents' marital status, area of residence, behavioral and psychosocial factors yielded insignificant results for most U/J examinations. Higher vaccination rates were found for children with no migration background, with residence in eastern Germany, lower household size, and with married parents. Conclusion: This study attempted to depict the influence of sociodemographic, psychosocial, and behavioral factors on the use of several preventive services. Our results indicate that predominantly sociodemographic variables influence the use of preventive services. Further efforts should be made to investigate the interplay of different determinants of healthcare use in children and adolescents. KW - Healthcare use KW - Inequity KW - Pediatrics KW - Prevention KW - Vaccination Y1 - 2024 UR - https://bmcpediatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12887-024-04650-0 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-024-04650-0 SN - 1471-2431 VL - 24 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Bammert, Philip A1 - Schüttig, Wiebke A1 - Novelli, Anna A1 - Iashchenko, Iryna A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Blume, Miriam A1 - Diehl, Katharina A1 - Moor, Irene A1 - Dragano, Nico A1 - Sundmacher, Leonie T1 - The role of mesolevel characteristics of the health care system and socioeconomic factors on health care use - results of a scoping review T2 - International Journal for Equity in Health N2 - Background: Besides macrolevel characteristics of a health care system, mesolevel access characteristics can exert influence on socioeconomic inequalities in healthcare use. These reflect access to healthcare, which is shaped on a smaller scale than the national level, by the institutions and establishments of a health system that individuals interact with on a regular basis. This scoping review maps the existing evidence about the influence of mesolevel access characteristics and socioeconomic position on healthcare use. Furthermore, it summarizes the evidence on the interaction between mesolevel access characteristics and socioeconomic inequalities in healthcare use. Methods: We used the databases MEDLINE (PubMed), Web of Science, Scopus, and PsycINFO and followed the 'Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR)' recommendations. The included quantitative studies used a measure of socioeconomic position, a mesolevel access characteristic, and a measure of individual healthcare utilisation. Studies published between 2000 and 2020 in high income countries were considered. Results: Of the 9501 potentially eligible manuscripts, 158 studies were included after a two-stage screening process. The included studies contained a wide spectrum of outcomes and were thus summarised to the overarching categories: use of preventive services, use of curative services, and potentially avoidable service use. Exemplary outcomes were screening uptake, physician visits and avoidable hospitalisations. Access variables included healthcare system characteristics such as physician density or distance to physician. The effects of socioeconomic position on healthcare use as well as of mesolevel access characteristics were investigated by most studies. The results show that socioeconomic and access factors play a crucial role in healthcare use. However, the interaction between socioeconomic position and mesolevel access characteristics is addressed in only few studies. Conclusions: Socioeconomic position and mesolevel access characteristics are important when examining variation in healthcare use. Additionally, studies provide initial evidence that moderation effects exist between the two factors, although research on this topic is sparse. Further research is needed to investigate whether adapting access characteristics at the mesolevel can reduce socioeconomic inequity in health care use. KW - Access KW - Healthcare use KW - Inequities KW - Mesoleve KW - Scoping review Y1 - 2024 UR - https://equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12939-024-02122-6 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-024-02122-6 SN - 1475-9276 VL - 23 IS - 1 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Mayer, Alena A1 - Herr, Raphael A1 - Klein, Thomas A1 - Wiedemann, Eva A1 - Diehl, Katharina A1 - Hoffmann, Stephanie A1 - Blume, Miriam A1 - Jepsen, Dennis A1 - Sundmacher, Leonie A1 - Andreas, Marike A1 - Schneider, Sven T1 - Socio-economic inequalities in body mass index among preschool children: do sports programs in early childhood education and care centers make a difference? T2 - Frontiers in Public Health N2 - Background: Overweight in childhood is considered to be one of the most serious public health challenges. Many studies have investigated individual-level determinants of children's body mass index (BMI), yet studies exploring determinants at the meso-level are sparse. The aim of our study was to examine how a sports focus at early childhood education and care (ECEC) centers moderates the effect of parental socio-economic position (SEP) on children's BMI. Methods: We used data from the German National Educational Panel Study and included 1,891 children (955 boys and 936 girls) from 224 ECEC centers in our analysis. Linear multilevel regressions were used to estimate the main effects of family SEP and the ECEC center sports focus, as well as their interaction, on children's BMI. All analyses were stratified by sex and adjusted for age, migration background, number of siblings, and employment status of parents. Results: Our analysis confirmed the wellknown health inequalities in childhood overweight with a social gradient toward a higher BMI for children from lower SEP families. An interactive effect between family SEP and ECEC center sports focus was found. Boys with low family SEP not attending a sports-focused ECEC center had the highest BMI among all boys. In contrast, boys with low family SEP attending a sports-focused ECEC center had the lowest BMI. For girls, no association regarding ECEC center focus or interactive effects emerged. Girls with a high SEP had the lowest BMI, independent of the ECEC center focus. Conclusion: We provided evidence for the gender-specific relevance of sports-focused ECEC centers for the prevention of overweight. Especially boys from low SEP families benefited from a sports focus, whereas for girls the family's SEP was more relevant. As a consequence, gender differences in determinants for BMI at different levels and their interaction should be considered in further research and preventive measures. Our research indicates that ECEC centers may decrease health inequalities by providing opportunities for physical activity. KW - BMI KW - children KW - meso-level KW - sport KW - early childhood education and care center KW - pre-school KW - health equalities Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1079871 SN - 2296-2565 VL - Vol. 11 ER -