Centiles of body mass index for Dutch children aged 0-20 years in 1980--a baseline to assess recent trends in obesity.
OBJECTIVE
To document the distribution of body mass index (BMI) in Holland in 1980 when obesity was uncommon.


METHODS
Nationally representative growth survey.


METHODS
Forty-one-thousand boys and girls age 0-20 years.


METHODS
BMI centiles based on the original height and weight data were derived using the LMS method.


RESULTS
Median BMI showed the familiar pattern of a rise in the first year, followed by a fall, then a second rise after 6 years. The level of overweight was less than for children from the USA, France and Norway measured at the same time or earlier.


CONCLUSIONS
Dutch children in 1980 were relatively free of obesity, so the BMI centiles are a suitable baseline to monitor international trends in obesity since then.
Cole
T J
TJ
MRC Human Nutrition Research, Cambridge, UK. Tim.Cole@ich.ucl.ac.uk
Roede
M J
MJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*