A Shift from Underweight to Overweight and Obesity in Asian Children and Adolescents with Congenital Heart Disease
Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 05/15/2012
Chen CA et al. – In this Asian congenital heart disease (CHD) cohort, they demonstrates a shift of BMI distribution from more underweight and less overweight/obese compared with healthy children, to a pattern similar to that in healthy adolescents.
Methods- Patient group consisted of 705 first grade elementary school students (children) and 219 first grade senior high school students (adolescents), while 18753 healthy children and 15014 healthy adolescents served as controls.
- Body mass index (BMI) percentile was calculated to define underweight (BMI < 15th percentile) and overweight (BMI 85th-95th percentile)/obesity (BMI > 95th percentile).
- In CHD children, the prevalence of underweight and overweight/obesity was 21.0% (control 16%, P < 0.001) and 14.5% (control 19.8%, P < 0.001), respectively.
- Children with moderate to severe CHD, especially cyanotic CHD, were more underweight and less overweight/obese than children with non-cyanotic CHD.
- The prevalence of underweight (23.3%) and overweight/obesity (26.5%) in CHD adolescents became close to that in controls.
- From childhood to adolescence, different shifts in BMI distribution were noted; controls became more underweight and overweight/obese for males and more underweight and less overweight/obese for females, while CHD patients became more overweight/obese for both genders, including cyanotic CHD.
