Thinness among young Japanese women.
OBJECTIVE
We described changes in body mass index (BMI) and the prevalence of thinness among young Japanese women (aged 15-29 years) from 1976 to 2000 by reanalyzing the nationwide data in the National Nutrition Survey, Japan.


METHODS
We used height and weight data sets for 30 903 nonpregnant, nonlactating women during the 25-year period. We calculated the mean values of BMI and the prevalence of thinness for 3 age groups (15-19, 20-24, and 25-29 years of age).


RESULTS
Changes in BMI per 10 years were -0.17 kg/m2, -0.22 kg/m2, and -0.34 kg/m2 for each age group, respectively. Extreme thinness (BMI < 17 kg/m2) increased from 2.4% in 1976-1980 to 4.2% in 1996-2000.


CONCLUSIONS
Further studies regarding topics such as increased smoking prevalence are needed to identify the underlying causes of increasing thinness.
Takimoto
Hidemi
H
Division of Health and Nutrition Monitoring, National Institute of Health and Nutrition, Tokyo, Japan. thidemi@nih.go.jp
Yoshiike
Nobuo
N
Kaneda
Fumi
F
Yoshita
Katsushi
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012649:Self Concept; D013851:Thinness / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D013997:Time Factors; D016387:Women's Health