Table 1.
Anthropometric and family characteristics of study participants by weight group: pre-school children (1138) from seven kindergartens in Beijing, China, spring term 2010
| Normal weight | Overweight* | P | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Participants, n | 902 | 236 | |
| Age (years), mean | 4·85 | 4·82 | 0·8058 |
| (range 3·1–6·7 years) | |||
| Height (cm), mean | 110·9 | 113·2 | <0·0001 |
| (range 94·5–134·7 cm) | |||
| Weight (kg), mean | 18·8 | 23·8 | <0·0001 |
| (range 11·5–38·0 kg) | |||
| BMI (kg/m2), mean | 15·23 | 18·45 | <0·0001 |
| (range 10·5–27·0 kg/m2) | |||
| Sex (%) | |||
| Boys | 77·68 | 22·32 | 0·1687 |
| Girls | 81·00 | 19·00 | |
| Main caregivers of the child (%) | |||
| Parents | 84·93 | 82·63 | 0·5056 |
| Grandparents | 14·29 | 16·02 | |
| Baby-sitter or others | 0·78 | 1·30 | |
| Father's education (%) | |||
| High | 30·20 | 24·79 | 0·2187 |
| Medium | 50·45 | 52·56 | |
| Low | 19·35 | 22·56 | |
| Mother's education (%) | |||
| High | 20·34 | 14·47 | 0·0722 |
| Medium | 58·43 | 59·57 | |
| Low | 21·24 | 25·96 | |
| Family type† (%) | |||
| Nuclear family | 62·25 | 59·40 | 0·3284 |
| Stem family | 34·08 | 38·03 | |
| Extended family | 3·23 | 1·71 | |
| Single-parent family | 0·45 | 0·85 | |
| Monthly family income, RMB (%) | |||
| Less than ¥2000 | 1·76 | 0·86 | 0·3934 |
| ¥2000–5000 | 22·65 | 28·02 | |
| ¥5000–10 000 | 47·42 | 45·26 | |
| ¥10 000–20 000 | 20·31 | 19·83 | |
| ¥20 000 or more | 7·86 | 6·03 |
RMB, renminbi.
*Overweight is defined as sex- and age-specific BMI ≥ 85th percentile (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2000)); the overweight category (BMI ≥ 85th percentile) includes obese children (BMI ≥ 95th percentile).
†Nuclear family consists of the parents and the only child; stem family consists of grandparents, parents and the only child; extended family is one with grandparents, parents, parents’ brothers or sisters and the children as family members; single-parent family consists of only one of the parents and the only child.