Weight changes of children in 1 year during COVID-19 pandemic
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Si-Hwa Gwag
,
Ye Rim Oh
,
Jae Wook Ha
Abstract
Introduction
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has changed everyday life. The Korean government urged schools to close as a measure of social distancing, and children and adolescents seemed to gain weight due to home confinement. We aimed to investigate the trends in weight changes in children during the pandemic period.
Materials and Methods
This retrospective study included 139 children aged between 6 and 12 years who visited the pediatric endocrine clinic for regular growth follow-up for 1 year during the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyzed changes in the body mass index (BMI), BMI z-score, and proportion of children who were overweight or obese over a period of 1 year.
Results
The BMI and BMI z-scores of the 139 children increased significantly over the year. The increase was maximum during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic, with little change between the third and sixth month of the pandemic. The proportion of children who were overweight or obese increased over time, from 24.5% at the COVID-19 pandemic baseline to 38.1% 1 year later (p < 0.001).
Conclusions
The COVID-19-related lockdown resulted in significant weight gain in Korean children. Changes in BMI showed different trends depending on the degree of school closure. An overall shift from normal weight to overweight or obesity was observed during the pandemic period.
Acknowledgments
All authors are grateful to the participants of this study.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Author contribution: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
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Competing interests: Authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
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Ethical approval: The local Institutional Review Board deemed the study exempt from review.
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Employment or leadership: None declared.
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Honorarium: None declared.
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© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Review Article
- Congenital hyperinsulinism: recent updates on molecular mechanisms, diagnosis and management
- Original Articles
- Weight changes of children in 1 year during COVID-19 pandemic
- Three novel mutations of the BCKDHA, BCKDHB and DBT genes in Chinese children with maple syrup urine disease
- Rates of adrenal insufficiency using a monoclonal vs. polyclonal cortisol assay
- Hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia in growth restricted convalescent preterm neonates: clinical characteristics and impediments to early diagnosis
- Identification of three novel pathogenic mutations in cystathionine beta-synthase gene of Pakistani intellectually disabled patients
- The prevalence of incidental finding of gynecomastia on thoracic computed tomography in the pediatric age group
- The prevalence of hypertension and elevated blood pressure and its correlation with overweight/obesity among students aged 6–17 years in Suzhou
- Investigation of androgen receptor gene CAG repeat length polymorphism in pubertal gynecomastia
- A single-centre study of genetic mutations, audiology, echocardiogram and pulmonary function in Saudi children with osteogenesis imperfecta
- A 10-year retrospective single-center study of alpha-fetoprotein and beta-human chorionic gonadotropin in Romanian children with (para)gonadal tumors and cysts
- Clinical, pathological and molecular spectrum of patients with glycogen storage diseases in Pakistan
- Allelic dropout in PAH affecting the results of genetic diagnosis in phenylketonuria
- Short Communication
- Role of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the appearance of new onset type 1 diabetes mellitus in children in Gran Canaria, Spain
- Case Reports
- 3-M syndrome – a primordial short stature disorder with novel CUL7 mutation in two Indian patients
- The coincidence of two rare diseases with opposite metabolic phenotype: a child with congenital hyperinsulinism and Bloom syndrome
- Growth hormone deficiency in a child with benign hereditary chorea caused by a de novo mutation of the TITF1/NKX2-1 gene
- Identification of a novel mutation in the PHKA2 gene in a child with liver cirrhosis
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Review Article
- Congenital hyperinsulinism: recent updates on molecular mechanisms, diagnosis and management
- Original Articles
- Weight changes of children in 1 year during COVID-19 pandemic
- Three novel mutations of the BCKDHA, BCKDHB and DBT genes in Chinese children with maple syrup urine disease
- Rates of adrenal insufficiency using a monoclonal vs. polyclonal cortisol assay
- Hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia in growth restricted convalescent preterm neonates: clinical characteristics and impediments to early diagnosis
- Identification of three novel pathogenic mutations in cystathionine beta-synthase gene of Pakistani intellectually disabled patients
- The prevalence of incidental finding of gynecomastia on thoracic computed tomography in the pediatric age group
- The prevalence of hypertension and elevated blood pressure and its correlation with overweight/obesity among students aged 6–17 years in Suzhou
- Investigation of androgen receptor gene CAG repeat length polymorphism in pubertal gynecomastia
- A single-centre study of genetic mutations, audiology, echocardiogram and pulmonary function in Saudi children with osteogenesis imperfecta
- A 10-year retrospective single-center study of alpha-fetoprotein and beta-human chorionic gonadotropin in Romanian children with (para)gonadal tumors and cysts
- Clinical, pathological and molecular spectrum of patients with glycogen storage diseases in Pakistan
- Allelic dropout in PAH affecting the results of genetic diagnosis in phenylketonuria
- Short Communication
- Role of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the appearance of new onset type 1 diabetes mellitus in children in Gran Canaria, Spain
- Case Reports
- 3-M syndrome – a primordial short stature disorder with novel CUL7 mutation in two Indian patients
- The coincidence of two rare diseases with opposite metabolic phenotype: a child with congenital hyperinsulinism and Bloom syndrome
- Growth hormone deficiency in a child with benign hereditary chorea caused by a de novo mutation of the TITF1/NKX2-1 gene
- Identification of a novel mutation in the PHKA2 gene in a child with liver cirrhosis
