Title:
Changes in Body Mass Index Among Children and Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors:
Susan J. Woolford, MD, MPH
Child Health Evaluation and Research Center, University of Michigan, Northville
Margo Sidell, ScD
Department of Research & Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Pasadena
Xia Li, MSc
Department of Research & Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Pasadena
Veronica Else, RN, MSN
Kaiser Permanente Yorba Linda Medical Offices, Southern California Permanente Medical Group, Yorba Linda
Deborah R. Young, PhD
Department of Research & Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Pasadena
Ken Resnicow, PhD
Department of Health Behavior, Health Education of the School of Public Health of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Corinna Koebnick, PhD
Department of Research & Evaluation, Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Pasadena
Published:
JAMA. Published online 27 August 2021
From the article:
The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with weight gain among adults,1 but little is known about the weight of US children and adolescents. To evaluate pandemic-related changes in weight in school-aged youths, we compared the body mass index (BMI; calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) of youths aged 5 to 17 years during the pandemic in 2020 to the same period before the pandemic in 2019.