Body Mass Index Trends before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Primary School Students in Split-Dalmatia County, Croatia: A Retrospective Study.

ABSTRACT: Within the last decade, childhood obesity has become a serious problem, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This research paper aimed to examine whether body mass index (BMI) was higher during the pandemic (2020-2022) than in the pre-pandemic period (2012/2013-2019) using trends related to sex, urban-rural area, and physical activity (PA). This study included data from physical examinations of an entire population of primary school children from Split-Dalmatia County (Croatia) over a period of 10 years. There were 103,804 students from the first, fifth, and eighth grades who participated in the analysis. During the pandemic, the BMI of all the students increased, except for eighth-grade girls. Generations of eighth graders have had significantly different BMIs throughout the past deca

SUBMITTER: Androja L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10780733 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature