Table 1. Characteristics of US children and their parents.
| Characteristics1 | Boys | Girls | p-value 2 |
| 1. Child characteristics | n = 4846 | n = 4725 | |
| Child age (years) | 12.0 (11.8, 12.1) | 12.0 (11.8, 12.2) | 0.903 |
| 6–9 | 28.0 (26.1, 29.9) | 26.8(24.9, 28.7) | 0.263 |
| 10–14 | 42.5 (40.5, 44.4) | 44.7(42.8, 46.7) | |
| 15–17 | 29.5 (27.8, 31.2) | 28.4(26.6, 30.3) | |
| Child BMI (kg/m2) | 20.7 (20.5, 20.9) | 20.3(20.1, 20.5) | 0.002 |
| Prevalence of overweight and obesity, based on 2000 CDC Growth Charts | |||
| <85th percentile (%-ile) | 63.2 (61.3, 65.1) | 70.3(68.5, 72.2) | <0.0001 |
| Between 85th≤BMI<95th %-ile | 16.2 (14.8,17.6) | 14.9(13.6, 16.2) | |
| BMI ≥95th%-ile | 20.6(19.1, 22.1) | 14.8(13.5, 16.1) | |
| Annual household income, % | |||
| Low income | 32.3 (29.1, 34.7) | 33.2(30.9, 35.5) | 0.399 |
| Middle income | 34.9(32.8, 37.1) | 35.7(33.5, 38.0) | |
| High income | 32.8(30.1, 35.4) | 31.0 (28.5, 33.6) | |
| 2. Characteristics of children's mothers | n = 4585 | n = 4522 | |
| Age (years) | 40.1(39.8, 40.5) | 40.0 (39.7, 40.3) | 0.558 |
| 20–34 | 20.7 (18.9, 22.5) | 21.1(19.0, 23.1) | 0.921 |
| 35–49 | 71.2 (69.2, 73.2) | 71.1(68.6, 73.5) | |
| 50–65 | 8.1 (6.8, 9.3) | 7.8(6.6, 9.1) | |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 27.4(27.1, 27.8) | 27.5(27.2, 27.8) | 0.761 |
| Prevalence of weight status | |||
| Underweight, BMI <18.5 | 2.0(1.3, 2.7) | 2.3(1.5, 3.0) | 0.64 |
| Normal weight, 18.5< BMI ≤25 | 40.0(37.4, 42.6) | 38.8(36.3, 41.3) | |
| Overweight, 25.0≤BMI <30 | 27.3(25.2, 29.5) | 28.7(26.4, 31.0) | |
| Obese, BMI ≥30.0 | 30.6(28.3, 33.0) | 30.2(27.9, 32.5) | |
| Education level, % | |||
| ≤11 years (high school) | 15.2(13.5, 17.0) | 15.4(13.4, 17.3) | 0.997 |
| 12 years (high school) | 29.2(26.8, 31.7) | 29.0 (26.4, 31.5) | |
| 13–15 years (some college) | 26.7(24.2, 29.2) | 26.7(24.3, 29.1) | |
| ≥16 years (≥college) | 28.8(26.0, 31.6) | 28.9(26.3, 31.6) | |
| Race/ethnicity, % | |||
| Non-Hispanic (NH) white | 63.8(60.9, 66.7) | 62.9(60.0, 65.8) | 0.389 |
| NH black | 13.2(11.5, 15.0) | 14.7(13.0, 16.5) | |
| Hispanic | 17.7 (15.7, 19.7) | 17(14.8, 19.1) | |
| Other | 5.3(3.9, 6.6) | 5.4(4.0, 6.7) | |
| Marital status, % | |||
| Married | 74.7(72.4, 76.9) | 73.2(70.8, 75.7) | 0.283 |
| Other | 25.3(23.1, 27.6) | 26.8(24.3, 29.2) | |
| Frequency of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week, % | |||
| <3 times | 42.9(40.5, 45.3) | 44.6(42.3, 46.9) | 0.225 |
| ≥3 times | 57.1(54.7, 59.5) | 55.4(53.1, 57.7) | |
| 3. Characteristics of children's fathers | n = 3406 | n = 3229 | |
| Age (years) | 42.8(42.4,43.2) | 42.5(42.1, 42.9) | 0.181 |
| 20–34 | 13.1(11.3, 14.8) | 12.8(10.7,14.8) | 0.625 |
| 35–49 | 69.5(67.0, 71.9) | 70.9(68.1, 73.7) | |
| 50–65 | 17.5(15.2, 19.8) | 16.3(14.3, 18.3) | |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 28.6(28.3,28.9) | 28.3(28.0, 28.6) | 0.039 |
| Prevalence of weight status | |||
| Underweight, BMI <18.5 | 0.3 (0.0, 0.7) | 0.3(0.0, 0.7) | 0.236 |
| Normal weight, 18.5< BMI ≤25 | 21.0 (18.7, 23.3) | 23.9(21.4, 26.4) | |
| Overweight, 25.0≤BMI <30 | 45.6(42.9, 48.4) | 44.8(42.1, 47.6) | |
| Obese, BMI ≥30.0 | 33.0 (30.0, 36.0) | 31.0 (28.0, 33.9) | |
| Education level,% | 0.208 | ||
| ≤11 years (high school) | 15.0 (13.0, 17.1) | 14.3(12.2, 16.5) | |
| 12 years (high school) | 31.1(28.3, 33.9) | 31.4(28.6, 34.3) | |
| 13–15 years (some college) | 23.6(20.7, 26.4) | 21.2(18.7, 23.7) | |
| ≥16 years (≥college) | 30.3(26.9, 33.6) | 33.0 (29.9, 36.2) | |
| Race/ethnicity, % | 0.213 | ||
| Non-Hispanic (NH) white | 68.9(66.0, 71.9) | 69.1(66.1, 72.1) | |
| NH black | 9.1(7.6, 10.6) | 10.2(8.6, 11.7) | |
| Hispanic | 16.5(14.4, 18.5) | 14.8(12.6, 16.9) | |
| Other | 5.5(4.1, 6.8) | 6.0 (4.5, 7.4) | |
| Marital status, % | 0.006 | ||
| Married | 90.7(89.0, 92.5) | 93.3(92.0, 94.5) | |
| Other | 9.3(7.5, 11.0) | 6.7(5.5, 8.0) | |
| Frequency of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week, % | |||
| <3 times | 37.6(34.6, 40.5) | 37.8(34.9, 40.7) | 0.89 |
| ≥3 times | 62.4(59.5, 65.4) | 62.2(59.3, 65.1) | ? |
1
Statistics are reported either as means with 95% Confidence Interval (CI) for continuous variables or percentages with their 95% Confidence Interval (CI) for categorical variables.
2
Chi-square tests were used to test for between-group differences for categorical variables; t-tests were used for continuous variables.
Source: Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, 2006–2007.