[Study on weight and height of the Chinese people and the differences between 1992 and 2002].
OBJECTIVE
To describe the current situation and trends of mean weight and height of the Chinese people.


METHODS
Subjects of 71,971 households from 31 provinces were selected by stratified multi-stage cluster random sampling method. Height from 210 136 and weight from 202 749 subjects aged 2-79 years were used to describe their trends of development during 1992-2002. The height of children younger than 3 years of age was measured by infant height bed while the others were measured by metal height pole within 0.1 cm accuracy. Fasting body weight was measured to the nearest 0.1 kg.


RESULTS
Data on the mean height (cm) of Chinese children aged 2, 6, 11, 17 years were gathered which include: 1) in urban area: boys as 90.1 (2y), 118.4 (6y), 144.9 (11y), 170.2 (17y); girls as: 89.0 (2y), 117.0 (6y), 145.8 (11y), 158.6 (17y); 2) in rural area:boys as 87.6 (2y), 113.1 (6y), 139.2 (11y), 166.3 (17y) while girls as 86.2 (2y), 112.9 (6y), 140.0 (11y), 157.0 (17y). When compared to the results from 1992, the average height increased among all age groups. The values of increase among different groups aged 2-5 years were seen as: 3.6 cm of boys in urban and 3.0 cm of boys in rural areas while 3.8 cm of girls in urban and 3.0 cm of girls in rural areas. Among the aged 6-19 year groups, the average increasing values of height were 3.1 cm, 3.4 cm, 2.8 cm and 3.1 cm of city boys, rural boys, city girls and rural girls, respectively versus adults as 0.7 cm, 0.9 cm, 0.6 cm and 1.0 cm, respectively. The mean weight (kg) of Chinese children aged 2, 6, 11, 17 years were listed as below: boys in urban area: 13.5 (2y), 22.2 (6y), 37.4 (11y), 58.7 (17y); girls in urban area: 12.7 (2y), 21.2 (6y), 36.7 (11y), 51.9 (17y); boys in rural area: 12.8 (2y), 19.4 (6y), 31.9 (11y), 54.9 (17y); girls in rural area: 11.9 (2y), 18.7 (6y), 31.8 (11y), 51.2 (17y). The average weights of all age groups on 2002 were all higher than their same age counterparts in 1992. The average increasing values of weight among children aged 2-5 years were 1.0 kg, 0.6 kg, 0.8 kg and 0.5 kg for city boys, rural boys, city girls and rural girls, respectively. Among the aged 6-19 year groups, they were 2.0 kg, 1.5 kg, 1.4 kg and 1.1 kg, while among the adults aged 20-70 years, they were 3.2 kg, 3.0 kg, 1.6 kg and 2.9 kg, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Both mean weight and height had a remarkable increase and the physical status improved among all age groups for the last ten years.
Yang
Xiao-guang
XG
National Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100050, China.
Li
Yan-ping
YP
Ma
Guan-Sheng
GS
Hu
Xiao-qi
XQ
Wang
Jing-zhong
JZ
Cui
Zhao-hui
ZH
Wang
Zhi-hong
ZH
Yu
Wen-tao
WT
Yang
Zheng-xiong
ZX
Zhai
Feng-ying
FY
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult