Table 1. Summary of the nationwide surveys of child and adolescent growth and nutrition used to obtain data for studying child growth, China, 1975–2010.

Survey	Purpose of survey	Time of survey	Area	Age (years)	Data measure
National Growth Survey of Children under 7 years in the Nine Cities of China, 201113	To establish standards for child growth and development	1975, 1985, 1995 and 2005	Cities of Beijing, Xi’an, Harbin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Fuzhou and Kunming and the surrounding rural areas	0–7	Height, weight, body mass index
National Growth Survey for Rural Children under 7 years in the Ten Provinces of China, 201114	To measure the growth and development of children in rural areas	1985 and 2006	Rural areas of ten provinces of Jilin, Shanxi, Gansu, Xinjiang, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi and Guizhou	0–7	Height, weight
National Epidemiological Survey on Simple Obesity in Childhood, 201215	To examine the epidemiological distribution of obesity and its risk factors	1986, 1996 and 2006	Urban areas of Beijing, Xi’an, Harbin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Guangzhou, Fuzhou and Kunming	0–7	Obesity; risk factors
Chinese National Survey on Students Constitution and Health, 201216–19	To assess the nutritional and health status of schoolchildren	1985, 1991, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2005 and 2010	30 of the 31 mainland provinces of China (excluding Xizang)	6–22	Height, weight, body mass index; age of sperm production and menarche; overweight and obesity; 50 m, 50 m × 8 shuttle, 1000 m run time
China National Nutrition Survey,a 201120	To assess nutritional status, diet and health	1982, 1992 and 2002	The 31 mainland provinces of China	0–18, 19–75	Undernutrition (including “stunted overweight”), over-nutrition; calories and protein intake
Chinese Food and Nutrition Surveillance System, 201121–23	To monitor nutritional status and diet among poor and non-poor children in rural areas	1990, 1995, 1998, 2000, 2005 and 2010	Seven provinces/municipalities of Hebei, Heilongjiang, Ningxia, Guangdong, Sichuan, Beijing	0–5	Underweight, wasting, stunting; “stunted and overweight”
China Health and Nutrition Survey,a 201224–26	To monitor the diet and nutritional status of Chinese residents	1989, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2009	Provinces of Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi and Guizhou	0–18, 19–75	General and abdominal obesity; energy, fat, carbohydrate and protein intake; sedentary behaviours

^a Data on dietary intake and undernutrition for children and adolescents were extracted from the China National Nutrition Survey and the China Health and Nutrition Survey.^27,28