Secular Trends of Obesity Prevalence in Urban Chinese Children from 1985 to 2010: Gender Disparity

Abstract

Based on the data from six Chinese National Surveys on Students Constitution and Health (CNSSCH) from 1985 to 2010, we explored the secular trend in the prevalence of obesity in urban Chinese children over a period of 25 years. The aim of this study was to examine the gender disparities in the prevalence of childhood obesity over time. The standardized prevalence of obesity in Chinese children increased rapidly during the past 25 years from 0.2% in 1985 to 8.1% in 2010. The increasing trend was significant in all age subgroups (p<0.01). Although the prevalence of obesity continuously increased in both boys and girls, the changing pace in boys was faster than that in girls. Age-specific prevalence odds ratios (PORs) of boys versus girls for obesity increased over time during the 25 year period. The prevalence of obesity in boys was significantly higher than in girls in all age-specific subgroups from 1991 and after. The gradually expanding gender disparity suggests the prevalence of obesity in boys contribute to a large and growing proportion of obese children. Therefore, it is critical for developing and implementing gender-specific preventive guidelines and public health policies in China.

Meat and masculinity among young Chinese, Turkish and Dutch adults in the Netherlands

“…In contrast, our data concur with other studies showing that among the current youths the prevalence of overweight and obesity is higher in men than in women (De Wilde et al, 2014;Neslisah & Emine, 2011;Song et al, 2013;Yang, 2007).…”

“…In the course of this process, various differences between the sexes may also change, as shown by differences between women and men in the prevalence of obesity. In non-Western countries, the prevalence of obesity is often greater in women than in men (Garawi, Devries, Thorogood, & Uauy, 2014), but this pattern seems to have reversed in recent years, resulting in a higher prevalence in boys and men (De Wilde et al, 2014;Neslisah & Emine, 2011;Song, Wang, Ma, & Wang, 2013;Yang, 2007). This reversal cannot be explained in a simple way, but the meat-masculinity link might play a role in this process, as meat consumption or factors directly related to meat consumption are positively associated with weight gain (Gilsing et al, 2012;Tucker, Tucker, Bailey, & LeCheminant, 2014).…”

Child Overweight and Obesity in Shanghai, China: Contextualizing Chinese Socioeconomic and Gender Differences

“…Previous research on childhood overweight and obesity has shown different patterns by gender, and China is no exception [4,8]. We estimated all logistic regression models using clustered robust standard errors and multilevel modeling respectively, two approaches to adjusting standard errors by accounting for the correlation between observations in the same group [33].…”

“…Less is known about patterns in these middle-income countries as compared to wealthy nations. For example, recent studies suggest that rates of childhood overweight and obesity in China have been on a rapid incline in the past 15 years [6][7][8][9], with variation in patterns across rural and urban settings [9]. This documented increase in overweight/obesity coincides with the nutrition transition in developing low-and middle-income countries, where in recent decades, the transition from nutrition deficits to nutrition surpluses is at different stages [10].…”

Maternal employment and childhood obesity in China: evidence from the China Health and Nutrition Survey

“…In fact, like economic growth and urbanization, the prevalence of overweight and obesity among Chinese children and adolescents is rapidly on the increase (Cui et al, 2010;Liang et al, 2012;Song et al, 2013;Yu et al, 2012;Zhang and Wang, 2012;.…”