title: Socio-demographic and economic correlates of overweight status in Chinese adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate over-weight prevalence and socio-demographic and economic correlates in Chinese adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Weight, height, waist circumference, and socio-demo-graphic and economic variables of 6863 middle and high school students were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  10% of girls and 17% of boys were overweight. Waist circumference and overweight risk were significantly associated with pubertal status (P<0.05). High levels of parental education and family income were significant risk factors for overweight (P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings underscore the need for development of evidence-based and culturally appropriate public health programs to prevent and treat pediatric obesity in China.
authors.affiliation: Hamovitch Research Center, School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0411, USA. bkie@usc.edu
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Chih-Ping
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: Donna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Spruijt-Metz
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Reynolds
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Paula H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Palmer
authors.forename: Peggy
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gallaher
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: C Anderson
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D050218:Body Fat Distribution; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000502:physiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class; D014504:Urban Health