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Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
09:36

Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study

Published on: February 2, 2017

Body mass index for children aged 6-18 years in Beijing, China

Dongmei Qiu1, Xin Guo, Jiali Duan

  • 1Department of Social Medicine, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan. qiu-d@ncchd.go.jp

Annals of Human Biology
|April 18, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Beijing children show higher Body Mass Index (BMI) levels compared to national averages, with urban children being heavier than rural ones. This highlights a dual nutritional burden, necessitating targeted interventions for obesity and underweight in Chinese youth.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Endocrinology
  • Public Health Nutrition
  • Growth Monitoring

Background:

  • Obesity is a significant global public health challenge.
  • Understanding pediatric Body Mass Index (BMI) trends is crucial for public health.
  • Regional variations in child BMI necessitate localized data.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To establish age-, sex-, and region-specific BMI percentile curves for Beijing children.
  • To compare Beijing children's BMI data with Chinese national statistics and international references.
  • To identify disparities in BMI between urban and rural Beijing children.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized the LMS method to construct BMI percentile curves.
  • Analyzed data from 8,155 children (4,078 boys, 4,077 girls) aged 6-18 years in Beijing.
  • Data collected between September 1 and November 30, 2005.

Main Results:

  • Significant differences in BMI curves were observed between boys and girls.
  • Urban Beijing children exhibited higher upper-percentile BMI compared to rural children.
  • Beijing's BMI curves exceeded Chinese national levels, with specific variations noted against WHO and developed country references for both sexes.

Conclusions:

  • Beijing children demonstrate higher average BMI than the Chinese national average.
  • Urban children in Beijing present with higher BMI than their rural counterparts.
  • The observed BMI polarization in Beijing boys suggests a dual burden of malnutrition (overweight/obesity and underweight).
  • Urgent public health policies and interventions are required to address both obesity and underweight in Chinese children.
Abstract

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