In the first 3 to 6 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the proportion of overweight or obese children and teens from low-income families in Ohio climbed from 38% to 45%, suggests a study presented last week at the European Congress on Obesity in the Netherlands.

In the observational study, which was published online Apr 6 in Clinical Obesity, researchers from Nationwide Children's Hospital and Ohio State University used primary-care electronic medical records to track the body mass index (BMI) of 4,509 children and teens aged 2 to 17 years from low-income families, comparing weight and height data from both before and after the pandemic began (Jan 1 to Mar 30, 2020 and Jun 1 to Sep 2020).

Healthy-weight category shrank

From before to after the beginning of the pandemic, the proportion of overweight or obese youth rose from 37.8% to 44.6%, while the share of healthy-weight youth fell by 5.6%. Overall, 23.1% of children and teens gained 5 or more kilograms (kg) (11 pounds), while 4.3% gained at least 10 kg (22 pounds), and 17.8% saw an increase in BMI of 2 or more units.

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