title: The National Survey on the Constitution and Health of Chinese Students in 1995: Nutritional status of school students aged 10-17 years in Shaanxi, China.
abstract: There are 200 million Chinese adolescents and they represent a significant proportion of the world adolescent population. Their health, growth and nutritional status is of vital importance to China but also to the health of adolescents globally. Previous assessments of nutritional status of adolescents in China have been undertaken without using World Health Organization (WHO) recommended anthropometric methods or reference data. Using data from the National Survey on the Constitution and Health of Chinese Students in 1995 (NSCHCS-95), this study aimed to assess the current nutritional status of Shaanxi school students using WHO recommended methods of nutritional assessment. Data for 6284 (3142 females and 3142 males) Shaanxi school students aged 10-17 years was abstracted from the Shaanxi portion of the NSCHCS-95. This national cross-sectional survey gathered anthropometric measurements using standard methods, maturity indicators, and basic social and demographic data. The calculation of anthropometric indicators was based on the National Centre for Health Statistics/WHO reference data and the prevalence of nutritional status indicators was estimated using standard WHO recommended cut-offs and methods of maturity adjustment. The median age of menarche and spermarche was delayed for Shaanxi rural female and male students in comparison with the reference data by 0.81 and 0.39 years, respectively. The prevalence of stunting and thinness in students in almost all ages was higher than in the reference population. For all age groups combined, the adjusted prevalence of stunting was 8.0% for urban students, and 11.0% for rural students. For students under 14 years of age, the adjusted prevalence of thinness was 18.3% for urban students, and 15.1% for rural students. The prevalence of 'at risk of overweight' and obesity among urban male students aged 10-11.99 (for overweight) and 10-12.99 years (for obesity) were similar to the reference population. Undernutrition (stunting and thinness) continues to be a public health problem in the Shaanxi school population and may be related to the less developed rural economy in the province. Young Shaanxi urban male students showed a tendency towards an excess prevalence of 'at risk of overweight' and obesity, which may be related to improved economic conditions in urban areas. It is necessary to develop national anthropometric reference data, cut-off points and median ages of attainment of WHO recommended maturational indicators for Chinese adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Dibley
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: D'Este
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hou