Table 1. Demographic Distributions Overall and by Selected Characteristics for the Enrollment Populationa Among Public School Children in Kindergarten Through 8th Grade Aged 5 to14 Years in New York City for the 2006–07 through 2010–11 School Years.
| Select Characteristic | School Year, % |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006–07 | 2007–08 | 2008–09 | 2009–10 | 2010–11 | |
| Total, % (n) | 100.0 (631,409) | 100.0 (625,407) | 100.0 (627,590) | 100.0 (635,361) | 100.0 (635,257) |
| Sex | |||||
| Female | 40.9 | 49.0 | 49.0 | 48.9 | 48.9 |
| Male | 51.0 | 51.0 | 51.0 | 51.1 | 51.1 |
| Race/ethnicity | |||||
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 14.0 | 14.4 | 14.9 | 15.4 | 15.7 |
| Hispanic | 40.3 | 40.3 | 40.3 | 40.3 | 40.5 |
| Non-Hispanic black | 30.9 | 30.1 | 29.2 | 28.4 | 27.3 |
| Non-Hispanic white | 14.5 | 14.7 | 15.0 | 15.2 | 15.6 |
| Age-group | |||||
| 5-6 years old | 21.0 | 20.7 | 20.8 | 21.8 | 21.7 |
| 7-10 years old | 43.3 | 43.3 | 43.9 | 44.2 | 44.4 |
| 11–14 years old | 35.6 | 36.0 | 35.5 | 34.1 | 33.9 |
| Meal status | |||||
| No free meals | 39.3 | 40.3 | 42.9 | 41.7 | 37.8 |
| Free meals | 60.7 | 59.7 | 57.1 | 58.3 | 62.2 |
| School neighborhood’s SESb | |||||
| Very wealthy (<10%) | 14.3 | 15.6 | 15.8 | 15.9 | 16.0 |
| Wealthy (10 to <20%) | 33.3 | 32.2 | 32.6 | 32.7 | 33.1 |
| Poor (20 to <30%) | 21.4 | 21.2 | 21.4 | 21.4 | 21.5 |
| Very poor (≥30%) | 30.9 | 30.9 | 30.2 | 30.0 | 29.4 |
Abbreviation: SES, socioeconomic status.
The valid measurements of body mass index (BMI) were weighted to be representative of the enrollment population for each year by race/ethnicity, school borough by district public health office (DPHO) neighborhood (neighborhoods defined by low-income and disproportionate rates of morbidity and mortality), free-meal status, grade, sex, age, and school type (elementary vs middle). Prevalence estimates of severe obesity and obesity reflect the enrollment population. A student’s recorded BMI was considered biologically implausible if it had at least one measure for height, weight, weight-for-height, or BMI that was identified as biologically implausible by the 2000 CDC growth chart z score (17) and the World Health Organization’s fixed exclusion criteria (18).
Percentage of residents in the school’s postal zip code living below the federal poverty threshold (FPT) as defined by the 2000 US Census: very wealthy (<10% of residents living below FPT), wealthy (10 to <20% below FPT), poor (20% to <30% below FPT), and very poor (≥30% below FPT) (26).