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. 2022 Sep 1;150(3):e2022056552.
doi: 10.1542/peds.2022-056552.

Changes in BMI During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Emily A Knapp  1 , Yanan Dong  1 , Anne L Dunlop  2 , Judy L Aschner  3 , Joseph B Stanford  4 , Tina Hartert  5 , Susan L Teitelbaum  6 , Mark L Hudak  7 , Kecia Carroll  6 , Thomas G O'Connor  8 , Cindy T McEvoy  9 , T Michael O'Shea  10 , Susan Carnell  11 , Margaret R Karagas  12 , Julie B Herbstman  13 , Dana Dabelea  14 , Jody M Ganiban  15 , Assiamira Ferrara  16 , Monique Hedderson  16 , Traci A Bekelman  14 , Andrew G Rundle  13 , Akram Alshawabkeh  17 , Diane Gilbert-Diamond  12 , Rebecca C Fry  10 , Zhanghua Chen  18 , Frank D Gilliland  18 , Rosalind J Wright  6 , Carlos A Camargo  19 , Lisa Jacobson  1 , Barry M Lester  20 , Christine W Hockett  21 , Marie L Hodges  1 , Aruna Chandran  1 ; Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes
Affiliations

Changes in BMI During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Emily A Knapp et al. Pediatrics. .

Abstract

Background and objectives: Experts hypothesized increased weight gain in children associated with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Our objective was to evaluate whether the rate of change of child body mass index (BMI) increased during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with prepandemic years.

Methods: The study population of 1996 children ages 2 to 19 years with at least 1 BMI measure before and during the COVID-19 pandemic was drawn from 38 pediatric cohorts across the United States participating in the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes-wide cohort study. We modeled change in BMI using linear mixed models, adjusting for age, sex, race, ethnicity, maternal education, income, baseline BMI category, and type of BMI measure. Data collection and analysis were approved by the local institutional review board of each institution or by the central Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes institutional review board.

Results: BMI increased during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with previous years (0.24 higher annual gain in BMI during the pandemic compared with previous years, 95% confidence interval 0.02 to 0.45). Children with BMI in the obese range compared with the healthy weight range were at higher risk for excess BMI gain during the pandemic, whereas children in higher-income households were at decreased risk of BMI gain.

Conclusions: One effect of the COVID-19 pandemic is an increase in annual BMI gain during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the 3 previous years among children in our national cohort. This increased risk among US children may worsen a critical threat to public health and health equity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors have no relevant conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Map of Participating Enrollment Sites
Figure 1 shows the data collection and enrollment sites from which the study population is drawn. Sites that only contributed participants to the primary study sample are in green, sites that only contributed to the comparison sample are shown in yellow, and sites that contributed participants to both samples are shown in blue.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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