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Trends in the Ability of Socioeconomic Position to Predict Individual Body Mass Index: an Analysis of Repeated Cross-sectional Data, 1991–2019 by Liam Wright; Charis Bridger Staatz; Richard J. Silverwood; David Bann is a Medicine article available to read on EtoBox.

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## Background The widening of group-level socioeconomic differences in body mass index (BMI) has received considerable research attention. However, the predictive power of socioeconomic position (SEP) indicators at the individual level remains uncertain, as does the potential temporal variation in their predictive value. Examining this is important given the increasing incorporation of SEP indicators into predictive algorithms and calls to reduce social inequality to tackle the obesity epidemic. We thus investigated SEP differences in BMI over three decades of the obesity epidemic in England, comparing population-wide (SEP group differences in mean BMI) and individual-level (out-of-sample prediction of individuals’ BMI) approaches to understanding social inequalities. ## Methods We used repeated cross-sectional data from the Health Survey for England, 1991–2019. BMI (kg/m^2^) was measured objectively, and SEP was measured via educational attainment, occupational class, and neighbourhood index of deprivation. We ran random forest models for each survey year and measure of SEP adjusting for age and sex. ## Results The mean and variance of BMI increased within each SEP group over the

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Author

Liam Wright; Charis Bridger Staatz; Richard J. Silverwood; David Bann

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Published

2023

Field

Medicine (Health Sciences)