Trends of body mass index among children and adolescents in China, 1997‐2011 (621.3)

Abstract

This study is to analyze the association between energy intake and physical activity and changes in body mass index (BMI) among Chinese children and adolescents. We used a subsample of 2,814 participants aged 2‐18 years old from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) who had anthropometric data and physical activity data measured at least twice in 1997 – 2011. We used longitudinal quantile regression to investigate changes in BMI over time and IOTF references to define overweight and obesity. The prevalence of overweight and obesity increased by 9.8% among boys and 5.8% among girls during this study period. BMI increased more in higher percentiles than in lower percentiles. An addition of 100 kilocalories per day would increase BMI by 0.02 kg/m2 among boys and 0.03 kg/m2 BMI among girls. An addition of 1 metabolic equivalent task (MET) per hour would decrease BMI by 0.12 kg/m2 (95% CI: 0.006 – 0.24) among girls but no effects among boys. This study may shed insights into preventing and controlling overweight and obesity among children and adolescents.This study was supported by NIH (R01‐HD30880) and Fogarty International Center, NIH (5D43TW007709).Grant Funding Source: NIH