Table 3.
Obesity Prevalence by Age Group and Assessment of Weight and Height in the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Cohort, United States, 1996–2008, and the Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, United States, 1997a
| Age Group by Assessment Type | No. of Observations | Prevalence |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | 95% CI | χ2 P Value | ||
| Aged 2–5 years | ||||
| NLSY79-Child, total | 4,082 | 19.9 | 18.4, 21.5 | <0.001 |
| NLSY79-Child, measured weight and height | 2,268 | 13.8 | 12.1, 15.8 | |
| NLSY79-Child, reported weight and measured height | 464 | 15.7 | 12.4, 19.8 | |
| NLSY79-Child, measured weight and reported height | 101 | 25.3 | 17.2, 35.5 | |
| NLSY79-Child, reported weight and height | 1,249 | 32.3 | 29.2, 35.5 | |
| PSID-CDS, total | 1,026 | 27.2 | 23.6, 31.2 | <0.001 |
| PSID-CDS, reported weight and measured height | 620 | 20.6 | 16.6, 25.2 | |
| PSID-CDS, reported weight and height | 406 | 36.6 | 30.9, 42.7 | |
| Aged 6–13 years | ||||
| NLSY79-Child, total | 14,553 | 16.1 | 15.0, 17.2 | 0.027 |
| NLSY79-Child, measured weight and height | 9,532 | 15.5 | 14.3, 16.8 | |
| NLSY79-Child, reported weight and measured height | 1,098 | 15.1 | 12.5, 18.0 | |
| NLSY79-Child, measured weight and reported height | 729 | 20.0 | 16.9, 23.6 | |
| NLSY79-Child, reported weight and height | 3,194 | 17.1 | 15.3, 19.0 | |
| PSID-CDS, total | 1,772 | 16.1 | 13.8, 18.6 | 0.080 |
| PSID-CDS, reported weight and measured height | 1,409 | 15.0 | 12.6, 17.8 | |
| PSID-CDS, reported weight and height | 363 | 20.2 | 15.2, 26.3 | |
| Aged 6–8 years | ||||
| NLSY79-Child, totalb | 4,655 | 15.4 | 14.0, 16.9 | <0.001 |
| NLSY79-Child, measured weight and height | 3,274 | 13.5 | 12.0, 15.1 | |
| NLSY79-Child, reported weight and height | 800 | 21.9 | 18.5, 25.7 | |
| Aged 9–11 years | ||||
| NLSY79-Child, totalb | 5,817 | 16.7 | 15.4, 18.1 | 0.173 |
| NLSY79-Child, measured weight and height | 3,889 | 16.2 | 14.7, 17.8 | |
| NLSY79-Child, reported weight and height | 1,181 | 18.2 | 15.6, 21.1 | |
| Aged 12–13 years | ||||
| NLSY79-Child, totalb | 4,081 | 15.9 | 14.5, 17.4 | 0.003 |
| NLSY79-Child, measured weight and height | 2,369 | 17.3 | 15.4, 19.3 | |
| NLSY79-Child, reported weight and height | 1,213 | 12.8 | 10.8, 15.2 | |
Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; NLSY79-Child, Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Cohort; PSID-CDS, Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics.
a Obesity was categorized by using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, Georgia) growth charts. Percentages were weighted by using sample weights for the respective surveys. Confidence interval estimates and χ2 statistics were adjusted for clustering within families in the NLSY79-Child and the PSID-CDS sample designs.
b The NLSY79-Child total for children aged 6–8, 9–11, or 12–13 years included 2 subsamples with insufficient sample sizes to be shown separately: children with reported weight and measured height and children with measured weight and reported height.