Neighborhood deprivation index is associated with weight status among long-term survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Purpose: Area deprivation index (ADI), a measure of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage, has been linked to metabolic outcomes in the general population but has received limited attention in survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), a population with high rates of overweight and obesity. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed heights and weights of ≥ 5 year survivors of pediatric ALL (diagnosed 1990–2013). Residential addresses were geocoded using ArcGIS to assign quartiles of ADI, a composite of 17 measures of poverty, housing, employment, and education, with higher quartiles reflecting greater deprivation. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between ADI quartiles and overweight/obesity or obesity alone were calculated with logistic regression. Results: On average, participants (n = 454, 50.4% male, 45.2% Hispanic) were age 5.5 years at diagnosis and 17.4 years at follow-up. At follow-up, 26.4% were overweight and 24.4% obese. Compared to the lowest ADI quartile, survivors in the highest quartile were more likely to be overweight/obese at follow-up (OR = 2.33, 95% CI: 1.23–4.44) after adjusting for race/ethnicity, sex, age at diagnosis, and age at follow-up. The highest ADI quartile remained significantly associated with obesity (OR = 5.28, 95% CI: 1.79–15.54) after accounting for weight status at diagnosis. Conclusions: This study provides novel insights into possible social determinants of health inequalities among survivors of childhood ALL by reporting a significant association between neighborhood deprivation and overweight/obesity. Implications for Cancer Survivors: Survivors of childhood ALL residing in neighborhood with greater socioeconomic disadvantage may be at increased risk of overweight and obesity and candidates for targeted interventions.