Abstract
Objective: To identify gender differences among Chinese school‐aged children from 1995 to 2010, and to project the future BMI‐for‐age Z ‐score distribution and prevalence of obesity.
Methods: The data were from four cross‐sectional surveys (1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010) of Chinese National Surveys on Students Constitution and Health (CNSSCH) with a national representative sample of Chinese children, involving more than 200,000 participants at each survey. BMI‐for‐age Z ‐score distributional shifts overall and in percentiles were compared by gender. Average shift was calculated for four survey periods and used for projecting future distributions and obesity prevalence.
Results: BMI‐for‐age Z ‐score increased more in their upper percentile distribution, indicating that Chinese children have become heavier over the past 15 years. Gender disparity in BMI‐for‐age Z ‐score has become wider during the period. Over a 15‐year period, BMI‐for‐age Z ‐score shift among girls has been stable, while boy's BMI‐for‐age Z ‐score shifts has increased linearly. By 2020, the obesity prevalence is predicted to be 10.18% and 4.99% for boys and girls, respectively.
Conclusions: The wider gender disparity suggested a larger proportion of obesity in boys than in girls. Therefore, gender‐specific preventive guidelines and public health policies for childhood obesity and cardiovascular diseases are urgently needed in China.
Methods: The data were from four cross‐sectional surveys (1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010) of Chinese National Surveys on Students Constitution and Health (CNSSCH) with a national representative sample of Chinese children, involving more than 200,000 participants at each survey. BMI‐for‐age Z ‐score distributional shifts overall and in percentiles were compared by gender. Average shift was calculated for four survey periods and used for projecting future distributions and obesity prevalence.
Results: BMI‐for‐age Z ‐score increased more in their upper percentile distribution, indicating that Chinese children have become heavier over the past 15 years. Gender disparity in BMI‐for‐age Z ‐score has become wider during the period. Over a 15‐year period, BMI‐for‐age Z ‐score shift among girls has been stable, while boy's BMI‐for‐age Z ‐score shifts has increased linearly. By 2020, the obesity prevalence is predicted to be 10.18% and 4.99% for boys and girls, respectively.
Conclusions: The wider gender disparity suggested a larger proportion of obesity in boys than in girls. Therefore, gender‐specific preventive guidelines and public health policies for childhood obesity and cardiovascular diseases are urgently needed in China.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1187-1193 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Obesity |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2014 |
| Externally published | Yes |