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Updated: May 17, 2026

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
[Effect of nutritional status in childhood on health status in adulthood]
Zhaoyang Fan1, Huijun Wang, Bing Zhang
1National Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety, China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100021, China. fanzhaoyang@126.com
Objective:
To investigate the effect of nutritional status in childhood on health status in adulthood.
Methods:
Data were collected from the China Health and Nutrition Survey in 1991, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2004 and 2006, and the subjects were older than 2 and no more than 18 year-old at the Survey in 1991 and remained in the same cohort with completed records through all six surveys. Mixed effect linear model was used to study the trajectory of BMI. Proportional hazards model was used to study the hazard risk of hypertension in adulthood.
Results:
Generally, the thinness or overweight-obesity status in childhood followed a same trend till adulthood. Nutritional status in childhood and the educational level of their parents appeared to be related to risk factors of hypertension in adulthood. The hazard ratio of not developing hypertension for additional 1 gram of protein intake per day in male subjects was 0.991, and which for additional 1 kcal of energy intake per day in female subjects was 0.9997.
Conclusion:
The nutritional health status in childhood keeps the same trajectory till adulthood.
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