Secular trends of height and weight in Chinese children from 2005 to 2014

Objective To analyze the secular trends and characteristics in height and weight of Chinese school children (aged 7-18 years) during 2005 to 2014.Methods The height and weight measurement data came from the Chinese National Survey on Students Constitution and Health in 2005,2010 and 2014.Data were fitted by LMS method to obtain the 5th,50th and 95th percentile curves of height and weight,and then comparisons between the increment of 2005-2010 and 2010-2014 were analyzed.Results From 2005 to 2010,the 50th percentile of average height increased by 1.0,1.6,0.8,1.1cm,and from 2010 to 2014,the increments were 1.0,1.4,0.9,1.3 cm,for urban boys,rural boys,urban girls,rural girls respectively;From 2005 to 2010,the 50th percentile of average weight increased by 1.3,1.9,0.9,1.1kg,and the increments were 1.7,2.1,1.3,1.5kg during 2010 to 2014.Height and weight of as the estimated value of adult height and weight,in the nearly 9 years,the adult height and weight increased significantly when taking 18-year-old students as adult population.The average increments of height and weight of rural students were higher than those of urban students,and the increments of boys were higher than those of girls.The average increasement of height and weight between 2010 and 2014 were higher than that of during 2005 to 2010.Conclusion The growth and development among children and adolescents in China still maintains a rapid increasing trend,especially in weight.Gap between urban and rural areas is gradually diminishing.