Trends in relative weight over 1 year in low-income urban youth.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Recent cross-sectional data indicate the rates of childhood obesity are plateauing. Few large-scale longitudinal data sets exist, particularly in low-income and minority youth. The purpose of this study was to describe longitudinal changes in relative weight among a large sample of low-income, minority youth over 1 year.

Methods

Participants were students from 56 schools in urban, low-income environments. There were 17,727 first- to sixth-graders (64% African-American, 52% male) assessed at baseline, and 13,305 youth (75.1%) were reassessed 1 year later at follow-up. Measured height and weight were used to assess categorical (overweight, obesity, severe obesity) and continuous (BMI, percentile, z-score) measures of relative weight.

Results

Longitudinal data

SUBMITTER: Lawman HG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4348033 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature