prevalence and trends of obesity among chinese korean nationality children and adolescents, 1991–2010

Background: obesity has become a serious problem for chinese han nationality. this research aimed to evaluate the prevalence of and trends in obesity among chinese korean nationality children and adolescents (1991–2010). methods: we used data from chinese national surveys on students’ constitution and health (cnssch). cnssch was utilized to monitor chinese students’ health condition and released its data every 5 yr (1991, 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010). the standard weight-for-height was the 80th percentile for sex- and age-specific growth charts based on the 1985 cnssch data. obesity was defined as ≧120% of standard weight-for-height. results: the total age-adjusted prevalence of obesity was 15.9% (95% confidence interval (ci), 14.9-16.9%) among chinese korean children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 yr. children or adolescents who were boys (rate ratios (rr), 1.35; 95% ci, 1.19–1.53) or aged 10–12 (rr, 1.38; 95% ci, 1.17–1.63) were more likely to be obese. the trend analysis of the 19-yr period implied a serious annual increasing trend during 1991-2000 (rr, 1.05; 95% ci, 1.02–1.07) and during 2000-2010 (rr, 1.12; 95% ci, 1.11–1.13). chinese korean children may also be more likely to become obese than han nationality children during 1991-2010. conclusion: a serious and continuous increasing trend was in the prevalence of obesity among chinese korean children and adolescents during 1991–2010. childhood obesity had become a serious problem. this prognosis is worrisome.