Individuals who lived with obesity as children are less likely to be in work or studying in their mid-20s than their peers, new research being presented at year's European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2025) has found.
They are also more likely to be on long-term sick leave, the Swedish study of the long-term labour market outcomes of childhood obesity found.
"Rates of childhood obesity are higher in individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds than in those from higher socio-economic positions," explains Dr Emilia Hagman, of the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
"The reasons for this are complex but one contributing factor may be limited ability to afford healthy foods.
"We have previously shown that children with obesity are less likely to complete 12 years of schooling than those in the general population. This made us wonder to what extent that affected later labour market outcomes."
Estimating socio-economic position in early adulthood is challenging, as income levels are often low when studying. As a result, the impact of childhood obesity on future employment, education, parental leave and long-term sick leave remains unclear.
To address this, Dr Hagman and colleagues used data from the Swedish Childhood Obesity Treatment Register and several national welfare registers to compare labour market outcomes in early adulthood of two groups of individuals: one that had lived with obesity in childhood and one from the general population.
Some 3,514 individuals who had lived with obesity as children were compared with 16,809 individuals from the general population, matched for sex, year of birth and living area. All were born between 1978 and 1996.
The participants were categorised into six groups: working, low-paid (this group earned less than "working" group), studying, parental leave, sick leave (receiving benefits for long-term sickness, early retirement or disability) or welfare recipient/other (this group included those who were unemployed).
At the age of 25, 59% of the childhood obesity group were working or studying, compared with 68% of the general population.
The rates of parental leave (3% vs. 2%) and low-paid work (22% vs. 22%) were similar between the two groups. However, long-term sick leave was much more common among those who had lived with obesity as children.
At the age of 25, 8.1% of the childhood obesity group were not working due to ill health, compared with 2.3% of the general population group. Overall, the individuals who lived with obesity in childhood had 4 times higher odds of being on long-term sick leave than working, compared to the general population comparators.
The study also found the degree of childhood obesity to be important.
Individuals who lived with class 3 obesity (the most severe form of obesity) in childhood were around three times more likely to be on sick leave (2.85 times) or in the "welfare recipient/others" group (2.97 times), rather than working, compared to those with class 1 obesity (the least severe form of obesity).
Dr Hagman says: "We initially expected that those who experienced obesity in childhood would be overrepresented in the low-paid group, as we know that children with obesity are less likely to complete at least 12 years of schooling than others, and so leave school with fewer qualifications. We also know that weight discrimination occurs in the labour market.
"Instead, we found that long-term sick leave emerged as an important contributor for not working. To understand the kind of ill health that contributes to this, more research is needed.
"However, we know from previous research that psychiatric conditions, such as depression, are more common among individuals that live with obesity.
"We have to raise awareness that obesity early in life can have long-term consequences, both for the overall health and for labour market outcomes.
"We know that a good response to obesity treatment in childhood decreases the long-term risk of several obesity-related outcomes, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension and even premature mortality.
"However, more research is needed to determine if it also improves the children's employment and study prospects as they get older."
