An analysis on obesity of 251,258 children under 7 years of age in Hangzhou

Objective To study the obesity of children under 7 years of age in Hangzhou.Methods Stratified-clustered-random sampling was used.251258 children under 7 years of age in 2011 were assessed for height and body weight.Overweight and obesity were defined by the weight for height of WHO reference,being over 10% as overweight and being over 20% as obesity.Results The rate of obesity was 3.51%,with 3.77% for boys and 3.23% for girls.There was a significant difference.This rate of obesity of children aged at 0-2 demonstrated in a descending trend from 5.85% to 2.46% with increasing age.The rate increased after 3 years old and reached 3.34% for 6-7 years old.The rate of obesity of children in grade A kindergartens was significantly higher than that of the other grades.Conclusion The obesity of children under 7 years of age in Hangzhou was significantly different in different ages,different gender and different kindergartens.It suggested that appropriate intervention measures should be taken in different groups of people.