Prevalence of grade 1, 2 and 3 thinness is associated with lower socio-economic status in children in Shanghai, China

• Published in: Public health nutrition 2016-08, Vol.19 (11), p.2002-2010
• Main Authors: Chen, Chang, Jin, Zhijuan, Yang, You, Jiang, Fan, Jin, Xingming, Huang, Hong, Liu, Shijian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Autism; Child; Child, Preschool; Children; Children & youth; Childrens health; China - epidemiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Developing countries; Economics; Education; Elementary schools; Epidemiology; Families & family life; Family income; Family planning; Female; Girls; Humans; Kindergarten; LDCs; Male; Malnutrition; Megacities; Nutritional epidemiology; Obesity; Overweight; Overweight - epidemiology; Pediatric Obesity - epidemiology; Prevalence; Public health; Questionnaires; Research Papers; Social Class; Socioeconomic factors; Socioeconomics; Students; Suburban areas; Thinness - epidemiology
• ISSN: 1368-9800; 1475-2727
• DOI: 10.1017/S1368980016000045

We aimed to investigate the prevalence of grade 1, 2 and 3 thinness among Chinese children and to explore their associations with socio-economic status (SES). A population, school-based cross-sectional study using multistage, stratified cluster random sampling. Grade 1, 2 and 3 thinness, overweight, obesity and severe obesity were defined by the International Obesity Task Force BMI cut-offs. Seven districts of Shanghai, China. Chinese children aged 3-12 years (n 84 075). In boys and girls, respectively, the prevalence of grade 1 thinness was 8·89 % and 11·78 %, of grade 2 thinness was 2·80 % and 3·74 %, and of grade 3 thinness was 2·23 % and 2·93 %. Compared with urban children, suburban children had higher prevalence of thinness. Children whose parent had low education had higher prevalence of grade 1, 2 and 3 thinness than those whose parent had high education. The prevalence of grade 2 and 3 thinness, obesity and severe obesity in low-SES children was higher than that in high-SES children, and the prevalence of grade 1 thinness was lower than that in high-SES children. Particular patterns of prevalence of grade 1, 2 and 3 thinness appeared in low-, middle- and high-SES children. The study describes associations of SES with grade 1, 2 and 3 thinness, overweight, obesity and severe obesity in Shanghai children. The patterns of thinness and obesity in Shanghai provide further insights into BMI patterns in mega-cities in developing countries.