New research: Children gained more weight than normal in Covid-19 pandemic
The researchers analysed the electronic health records of 1,91,509 members of Kaiser Permanente, belonging to the age group 5-17 years, from March 1, 2019, to January 31, 2021.
Most of the increase among those 5-11 and 12-15 years old was due to an increase in obesity. (Representational)
Young children, especially those belonging to the age group 5-11 years, gained excess weight during the pandemic, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
“When we compared the weight gain among children from 2019 to 2020, we found that there was more weight gained during the pandemic for youths of all ages,” Corinna Koebnick, the senior author of this study, of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California’s Department of Research & Evaluation, was quoted as saying in the press release issued by Kaiser Permanente.
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Kaiser Permanente is a healthcare consortium based in Portland, California.
The researchers analysed the electronic health records of 1,91,509 members of Kaiser Permanente, belonging to the age group 5-17 years, from March 1, 2019, to January 31, 2021.
Those age 5-11 years gained 5.07 pounds more during Covid-19 than during the same time period before Covid-19, while those aged 12-15 and 16-17 gained an excess of 5.1 pounds and 2.26 pounds over the prior year, respectively.
Among 5-to-11-year-olds, this weight gain resulted in almost 9% more children becoming overweight or obese compared to 5% in those aged 12-15 years and 3% in those aged 16-17. Most of the increase among those 5-11 and 12-15 years old was due to an increase in obesity.
