Indexes of obesity and comparisons with previous national survey data in 9- and 10-year-old black and white girls: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study

doi:10.1016/S0022-3476(05)81354-X

The Journal of Pediatrics

Volume 124, Issue 5, Part 1, May 1994, Pages 675-680

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-3476(05)81354-X Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective: To (1) describe anthropometric and body-size measurements in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study (NGHS) population at baseline and (2) examine potential secular trends in the prevalence of obesity in young black and white girls by comparing NGHS baseline data with those of the two National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES I and II) (measured before the NGHS). Design: Cross-sectional analysis of cohort baseline data. Setting: Recruitment in selected schools (Cincinnati and Berkeley) and among the membership of a group health association (Westat). Patients: Enrolled 2379 girls, 9 and 10 years of age, including 1213 black and 1166 white. Measurements: Anthropometric measures, including height, weight, and triceps and subscapular skin folds. Body mass index was used as a measure of body size. Nine- and ten-year-old black girls were taller, heavier, and had larger skin folds than white girls. Compared with age-similar girls in the 1970s, girls in the present study are taller and heavier and have thicker skin folds. The differences in body size were most notable among black girls. Conclusions: Black girls have a greater body mass than white girls even as young as 9 and 10 years of age. The prevalence of obesity appears to be increasing among young girls, especially in black girls. This progression, if not altered, could lead to increased disease in the future for adult women, particularly black women. (J PEDIATR 1994;124:675-80)

Section snippets

METHODS

Differences in the study design of NHANES I and II and that of NGHS are described in the Discussion section, below.

RESULTS

At each age, black girls were significantly taller and heavier and had a greater BMI than white girls (Table I). Black girls also had significantly larger subscapular skin folds than the white girls. There were no race differences in the mean triceps skin-fold measurements.

Data in Table II show that, for 9-year-old white girls, the NGHS girls were significantly taller than the girls in the combined NHANES data. The 10-year-old NGHS white girls were significantly taller and heavier and had a

DISCUSSION

Our findings show that in the NGHS sample 9- and 10-year-old black girls were consistently taller and heavier and had larger subscapular skin folds than white girls in the NGHS study. Compared with 9- and 10-year-old girls represented in the combined NHANES data from the 1970s, NGHS girls of both races were taller and heavier, and black girls had larger skin folds. The increases in mean values for BMI and in the subscapular skin fold in the NGHS, compared with the NHANES, were present for both

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Citation Excerpt :
Previous research has documented that the prevalence of many health-related problems increases as children grow and that substantial racial and ethnic disparities exist by adolescence.1,2,4,6,25 Although some studies have included younger children (e.g., ≤18 years of age)6,8,9,26,27 and a few have focused exclusively on younger age groups,12,13,28–30 there is limited information on whether disparities in health-related problems that are often associated with adolescence appear earlier than adolescence. In our study, the prevalence rates of many problems were high and significant disparities already existed among preadolescents.
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Substantial racial and ethnic disparities have been documented among adolescents across a range of health-related behaviors, experiences, and outcomes, including the use of bike helmets¹; witnessing of violence, experience of victimization, and perpetration of violence1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; experience of discrimination⁷; perceived health status^8,⁹; and obesity.1, 2, 3 ^8,^10,¹¹ In contrast, we know much less about similar health-related issues among preadolescents. Several studies in this age group, which generally have involved small numbers of participants, examined one or two health behaviors, or included only two racial and ethnic groups, suggest that disparities among these children may . . .

View all citing articles on Scopus

^☆: From the Division of Cardiology, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, the Maryland Medical Research Institute, Baltimore, the Department of Social and Administrative Health Services, University of California, Berkeley, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and Westat, Inc., Rockville, Maryland

^☆☆: Supported by National Institutes of Health grant HC-55025.

^★: Reprint requests: John A. Morrison, PhD, Division of Cardiology ASB-4, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Elland and Bethesda Avenues, Cincinnati, OH 45229-2899.

^★★: 9/20/53066

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Indexes of obesity and comparisons with previous national survey data in 9- and 10-year-old black and white girls: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study☆,☆☆,★,★★

Abstract

Section snippets

METHODS

RESULTS

DISCUSSION

Am J Clin Nutr

Am J Clin Nutr

Prev Med

Weight and hypertension

Ann Intern Med

Determinants of cardiac involvement in children and adolescents with essential hypertension

Circulation

Normal blood pressures and the evaluation of sustained blood pressure elevation in childhood: the Muscatine Study

Pediatrics

Hyperinsulinemia: a link between hypertension, obesity and glucose intolerance

J Clin Invest

Correlative studies in obese children and adolescents concerning body composition and plasma insulin and growth hormone levels

Pediatr Res

Effects of diet and weight loss on plasma glucose, insulin and free fatty acids in obese children

Pediatr Res

Clustering of anthropometric parameters, glucose tolerance, and serum lipids in children with high and low β- and pre-β-lipoproteins: the Bogalusa Heart Study

Arteriosclerosis

Influence of persistent obesity in children on cardiovascular risk factors: the Bogalusa Heart Study

Circulation

The prognosis in juvenile obesity

Arch Dis Child

Relationship of childhood weight status to morbidity in adults

Pediatrics

Increasing pediatric obesity in the United States

Am J Dis Child

Obesity and cardiovascular disease risk factors in 9- and 10-year-old black and white girls: the NHLBI Growth and Health Study

Am J Public Health