International Journal of Biomedical Science
1(1) 57-66
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© 2005 Master Publishing Group
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Original Article
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Body Mass Index Reference Curves for Children Aged 0-18 Years in Shaanxi, China |
Lei Shang1, Yong-yong Xu1,
Xun Jiang2, Ru-lan Hou3 |
1.Department of Health Statistics, The Fourth Military Medical
University , Xi’an ,Shaanxi, Peoples Republic of China 2.Department of
Pediatrics , Tangdu Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi’an ,
Shaanxi, Peoples Republic of China 3. Institute of Public Health, Xi’an Medical
University, Xi’an , Shaanxi, Peoples Republic of China |
body mass index, growth reference, obesity, Chinese children |
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Objectives: Health care professionals have recommended the use of
age-related body mass index (BMI) to evaluate obesity in children. Until now, no
age-related reference curves for BMI have been reported in China. Presented here
are age-related BMI percentile curves for children aged 0~18 years in Shaanxi,
China,1995.
Methods: The Third Nationwide Growth Survey was performed in 1995 and
from this survey, data of the Shaanxi population were retrieved to construct the
age-related BMI percentile curves. A total of 27,200 healthy children aged 0~18
years were examined for height and weight, using the standardized methods. The
λ-median-coefficient of variation (LMS) method was used for curve fitting; all
analyses were carried out on the basis of different sexes and areas through a
special program for LMS method.
Results: Median BMI increased steeply in early life, with a peak at 8
months, then declined, and then leveled off at about 6 years. The age of
adiposity rebound for urban children was about two years earlier than that for
rural children and one year earlier for boys than for girls. After adiposity
rebound, BMI increased more rapidly in girls than in boys, and the increase in
urban children was more rapid than that in rural children. As the onset of
puberty, female BMI became higher than that of males, and the difference between
boys and girls was larger for rural children than for urban children. The 95th
,50th and 5th percentiles for Shaanxi children were lower than those of
comparable American children. Cut-off points for obesity was lower than those of
international averages, suggesting the nutrition status of Shaanxi children is
lower than that of children in developed countries, and has not reached the
international average level.
Conclusions: Using the LMS method, we constructed age-related BMI
percentile curves for Shaanxi children aged 0~18 years, the first for Chinese
children. Percentile curves and cut-off points for obesity can be used as a
reference for assessing the nutrition status of Shaanxi children aged 0~18
years. The identified gender and residency differences may serve as guides to an
understanding of the cause and prevention of obesity.
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