Socio-demographic and economic correlates of overweight status in Chinese adolescents.
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.
Xie
Bin
B
Hamovitch Research Center, School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0411, USA. bkie@usc.edu
Chou
Chih-Ping
CP
Spruijt-Metz
Donna
D
Reynolds
Kim
K
Clark
Florence
F
Palmer
Paula H
PH
Gallaher
Peggy
P
Sun
Ping
P
Guo
Qian
Q
Johnson
C Anderson
CA
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