Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2014 Jan;15 Suppl 1(0 1):37-48.
doi: 10.1111/obr.12121.

Overweight dynamics in Chinese children and adults

P Gordon-Larsen  1 , H Wang, B M Popkin
Affiliations
Review

Overweight dynamics in Chinese children and adults

P Gordon-Larsen et al. Obes Rev. 2014 Jan.

Abstract

China has experienced a transition from a history of undernutrition to a rapid increase in obesity. The China Health and Nutrition Survey, an ongoing longitudinal, household-based survey of urban and rural residents of nine provinces, documents these changes using measured height and weight across 53,298 observations from 18,059 participants collected from 1991 to 2011. Adult overweight (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 25 kg/m(2)) prevalence nearly tripled from 1991 (11.7%) to 2009 (29.2%), with significant cohort and age-related effects (stronger in males). Among youth, quantile regression reveals changes across the BMI distribution. By 2009, approximately 12% of children and adolescents were overweight, and 3% of 7-11-year-olds and 1% of 12-17-year-olds were obese (International Obesity Taskforce BMI 25 and 30 kg/m(2) equivalents, respectively). In 1991-2000, urbanicity was strongly and positively associated with BMI, but in 2000-2011, trends were similar across rural and urban areas. Among women, the burden has shifted to lower educated women (the reverse is true for males, as overweight was higher in men of higher education). Our findings highlight the importance of preventive measures early in the life cycle to reduce weight gain.

Keywords: China; gender; obesity; urbanicity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None of the authors have financial disclosures or conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
BMI across all seven surveys stratified by baseline age group (cohort) in males (top panel) and females (bottom panel)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Weight gain trajectories for adults aged 18–66 years, 1991 to 2009, CHNS, derived using latent class trajectory analysis
Figure 3
Figure 3
Predicted mean WC (cm) for given BMI using linear regression in Chinese men and women aged 20–59 years in 1993 compared with 2009, CHNS
Figure 4
Figure 4
Predicted incident overweight* across different combinations of baseline urbanicity and increase in urbanicity, 1991 to 2011
Figure 5
Figure 5
Predicted BMI trajectories for men (top panel) and women (bottom panel) by birth cohort (older birth cohort born in or prior to 1955; younger birth cohort born after 1955), 1989–2006
Figure 5
Figure 5
Predicted BMI trajectories for men (top panel) and women (bottom panel) by birth cohort (older birth cohort born in or prior to 1955; younger birth cohort born after 1955), 1989–2006
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Popkin BM. Will China’s nutrition transition overwhelm its health care system and slow economic growth? Health Aff (Millwood) 2008;27:1064–76. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Van de Poel E, O’Donnell O, Van Doorslaer E. Are urban children really healthier? Evidence from 47 developing countries. Soc Sci Med. 2007;65:1986–2003. - PubMed
    1. Xi B, Liang Y, He T, et al. Secular trends in the prevalence of general and abdominal obesity among Chinese adults, 1993–2009. Obes Rev. 2012;13:287–96. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dearth-Wesley T, Wang H, Popkin BM. Under- and overnutrition dynamics in Chinese children and adults (1991–2004) Eur J Clin Nutr. 2008;62:1302–7. - PubMed
    1. Wildman RP, Gu D, Muntner P, et al. Trends in overweight and obesity in Chinese adults: between 1991 and 1999–2000. Obesity (Silver Spring, Md) 2008;16:1448–53. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms