Unfavorable progression of obesity in children and adolescents due to COVID-19 pandemic: A school-based survey in China.

Abstract

ObjectiveThe Chinese government decisively imposed nationwide confinement in response to the COVID‐19 outbreak. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the progression of obesity in children and adolescents in Changshu, China.MethodsBased on the Health Promotion Program for Children and Adolescents (HPPCA), which is a prospective cross‐sectional and school‐based study, BMI assessed in seven consecutive years (2014 to 2020) among children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years in Changshu city was extracted. The standardized BMI z scores (zBMI) and prevalence of obesity between 2020 (after COVID‐19 home confinement) and the previous 6 years were compared among age‐specific subgroups and between sexes.ResultsThe mean number of participants per year was 29,648. The overall mean zBMI drastically increased from 0.29 in 2019 to 0.45 in 2020, resulting in a rise of 0.16 (95% CI: 0.14‐0.18); the prevalence of obesity substantially elevated to 12.77% in 2020 (versus 10.38% in 2017), with an acceleration of 2.39% (95% CI: 1.88%‐2.90%). Of note, these increases were more likely to be observed in boys and those 6 to 11 years old.ConclusionsThe COVID‐19 pandemic seemed to exacerbate the obesity epidemic among pediatric populations in Changshu, China.