Table 3. Time trends in the percentage (%) of Western fast food consumers among Chinese children of the same age between 2004 and 2009, by age group (those aged 6–10 vs 13–17 years old), socio-demographics, lifestyles and weight status: China Health and Nutrition Survey.
| Children aged 6–10 in 2004 or 2009 (N = 1534) | Children aged 13–17 in 2004 or 2009 (N = 362) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year 2004 | Year 2009 | Sig.† | Trend¶¶ | Year 2004 | Year 2009 | Sig.† | Trend¶¶ | |
| % | % | % | % | |||||
| Among all § | 18.1 | 18.3 | → | 17.9 | 26.3 | *** | ↑ | |
| Age (years)┃ | ||||||||
| 6–8 or 13–15 | 18.2 | 17.1 | → | 16.2 | 24.3 | ↑ | ||
| 9–10 or 16–17 | 18.1 | 19.9 | → | 21.3 | 31.7 | ↑ | ||
| Gender | ||||||||
| Boys | 15.3 | 18.7 | → | 15.0 | 25.0 | ** | ↑ | |
| Girls | 21.2 | 17.7 | → | 21.3 | 27.8 | ↑ | ||
| Ethnicity | ||||||||
| Han | 21.1 | 18.5 | → | 19.1 | 27.6 | ** | ↑ | |
| Not Han (minorities) | 5.2 | 16.9 | * | ↑ | 9.5 | 19.0 | ↑ | |
| Household income/capita (yuan) || | ||||||||
| Low | 7 | 9.2 | → | 13.3 | 17.7 | ↑ | ||
| Medium | 9.9 | 14.8 | → | 13.7 | 22.2 | * | ↑ | |
| High | 39.3 | 32.0 | → | 26.9 | 36.2 | ↑ | ||
| Urbanicity | ||||||||
| Urban | 42.1 | 42.3 | → | 34.3 | 38.8 | → | ||
| Rural | 9.7 | 9.8 | → | 10.3 | 20.6 | *** | ↑ | |
| Region¶ | ||||||||
| Northeast | 23.6 | 28.1 | → | 19.3 | 29.7 | ↑ | ||
| East China | 43.3 | 34.1 | ** | ↓ | 23.4 | 41.2 | ** | ↑ |
| Central China | 13.4 | 15.4 | → | 15.7 | 24.2 | ↑ | ||
| South China | 6.8 | 6.0 | → | 15.4 | 15.2 | → | ||
| Southwest | 5.3 | 13.3 | → | 15.0 | 21.2 | ↑ | ||
| Weight Status§§ | ||||||||
| Under/normal weight | 16.5 | 17.5 | → | 17.4 | 26.2 | *** | ↑ | |
| Overweight | 27.3 | 26.7 | → | 30.3 | 26.5 | → | ||
| Obese | 33.3 | 16.7 | → | 0.0 | 33.3 | ↑ | ||
| Dietary intakes | ||||||||
| Caloric intake (kcal)†† | ||||||||
| <1,200 | 14.9 | 12.3 | → | 22.9 | 21.2 | → | ||
| ≥1,200 | 19.6 | 20.1 | → | 18.3 | 26.7 | ** | ↑ | |
| Fat intake (as % of total energy intake)†† | ||||||||
| ≤35 | 14.7 | 14.4 | → | 16.8 | 22.4 | ↑ | ||
| >35 | 28.5 | 25.9 | → | 23.2 | 36.8 | * | ↑ | |
| Carbohydrate intake (as % of total energy intake)†† | ||||||||
| ≤50 | 36.1 | 25.6 | → | 26.2 | 41.3 | * | ↑ | |
| >50 | 13.6 | 15.3 | → | 16.6 | 22.2 | * | ↑ | |
| Physical activity level (MET in kcal/(kg*h))‡‡ | ||||||||
| ≤5,000 | 16.6 | 16.8 | → | 16.5 | 24.4 | * | * | ↑ |
| >5,000 | 26.6 | 24.2 | → | 20.7 | 30.8 | * | * | ↑ |
Note: MET, metabolic equivalent of task. Results came from two samples of children who aged 6–10.99 years in waves 2004 and of the same age in 2009, or children who aged 13–17.99 years in waves 2004 and of the same age in 2009. Imputation treated any missing responses or those answered “unknown” as “0” when there was no fast food restaurant in the respondent's community.
| Age group 6–8.99 for children aged 6–10.99, and age group 13–15.99 for children aged 13–17.99. Age group 9–10.99 for children aged 6–10.99, and age group 16–17.99 for children aged 13–17.99. The age range of 6–10.99 and 13–17.99 were chosen so that there were e no overlaps between children of the same age range in wave 2004 and 2009.
† * P < .05; ** P < .01; *** P < .001 for Chi-squared tests to examine if there was any significant difference between the percentage of fast food consumers in wave 2004 and that in wave 2009.
§ Questions on fast food consumption frequency: “During the past 3 months, how many times have you eaten at a Western fast food restaurant, such as McDonald’s or Kentucky Fried Chicken?” Responses to this question were dichotomized into 1: consumed at least once or 0: not consumed or unknown to calculate the percentage of fast food consumers.
|| Annual per capita household income inflated to year 2011 yuan currency values.
¶ Regions include: Northeast (Liaoning, Heilongjiang), East China (Jiangsu, Shandong), Central China (Henan, Hubei, Hunan), South China (Guangxi), Southwest China (Guizhou).
†† Caloric, fat and carbohydrate intake were obtained from 3-day 24-hour recalls. They were dichotomized based on data distribution as well as dietary recommendations.
‡‡ MET was aggregated from children’s in-school and after school physical activities, transportations to/from schools and sedentary behaviors.
§§ Weight and height was measured by trained clinical staffs. BMI was calculated from weight (kg) divided by height (meter) squared. Weight status was determined based on the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF)’s gender- and age-specific BMI cut-offs.
¶¶ ↑: increase; ↓: decrease; →: no change from 2004 to 2009.