Children's Rates of BMI Change Prepandemic and During Two COVID-19 Pandemic Periods, IQVIA AEMR, January 2018-November 2021.
Obesity (Silver Spring)
; 2022 Nov 09.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2244240
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Many U.S. youth experienced accelerated weight gain during the early COVID-19 pandemic. Using an ambulatory electronic health record dataset, we compared children's rates of BMI change in three periods prepandemic (January 2018-February 2020), early pandemic (March-December 2020), and later pandemic (January-November 2021).METHODS:
We used mixed-effects models to examine differences in rates of change in BMI, weight, and obesity prevalence among the three periods. Covariates included time as a continuous variable; a variable indicating in which period each BMI was taken; sex; age; and initial BMI category.RESULTS:
In a longitudinal cohort of 241,600 children aged 2-19 years with ≥4 BMIs, the monthly rates of BMI change (kg/m2 ) were 0.056 (95%CI 0.056, 0.057) prepandemic, 0.104 (95%CI 0.102, 0.106) in the early pandemic, and 0.035 (95%CI 0.033, 0.036) in the later pandemic. The estimated prevalence of obesity in this cohort was 22.5% by November 2021.CONCLUSIONS:
In this large geographically-diverse cohort of U.S. youth, accelerated rates of BMI change observed during 2020 were largely attenuated in 2021. Positive rates indicate continued weight gain rather than loss, albeit at a slower rate. Childhood obesity prevalence remained high, which raises concern about long-term consequences of excess weight and underscores the importance of healthy lifestyle interventions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Language:
English
Journal subject:
Nutritional Sciences
/
Physiology
/
Metabolism
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Oby.23643
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