Table 1.
Standardised prevalence of BMI Categories in Chinese population in 2013 and 2018.
| BMI Categories 2013 Standardised prevalencea (%, 95%CI) |
BMI Categories 2018 Standardised prevalencea (%, 95%CI) |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Underweight | Health | Overweight | Obesity | Underweight | Health | Overweight | Obesity | |
| Adults | 8.4 (8.2-8.5) | 72.3 (72.2-72.6) | 17.2 (17.0-17.4) | 2.1 (2.0-2.1) | 8.2 (8.1-8.4) | 66.2 (66.0-66.5) | 21.9 (21.7-22.1) | 3.7 (3.6-3.8) |
| Age, y | ||||||||
| 19–29 | 13.4 (13.0-13.8) | 75.2 (74.7-75.7) | 9.9 (9.6-10.2) | 1.5 (1.4-1.6) | 14.1 (13.6-14.7) | 69.0 (68.3-69.7) | 13.8 (13.3-14.3) | 3.1 (2.9-3.4) |
| 30–39 | 5.8 (5.5-6.0) | 74.3 (73.8-74.8) | 17.6 (17.2-18.0) | 2.3 (2.1-2.5) | 6.1 (5.9-6.4) | 66.8 (66.2-67.3) | 22.7 (22.2-23.2) | 4.4 (4.2-4.7) |
| 40–49 | 4.3 (4.1-4.5) | 72.3 (71.9-72.7) | 21.2 (20.8-21.6) | 2.3 (2.1-2.4) | 3.7 (3.6-3.9) | 66.1 (65.6-66.6) | 26.3 (25.8-26.7) | 3.9 (3.7-4.1) |
| 50–59 | 5.3 (5.1-5.5) | 70.7 (70.2-71.1) | 21.7 (21.4-22.1) | 2.3 (2.2-2.4) | 4.6 (4.4-4.7) | 64.3 (63.9-64.8) | 27.2 (26.8-27.6) | 3.9 (3.7-4.1) |
| 60–69 | 8.6 (8.3-8.9) | 69.2 (68.7-69.7) | 19.8 (19.4-20.2) | 2.4 (2.2-2.5) | 7.8 (7.5-8.1) | 64.7 (64.2-65.1) | 24.2 (23.8-24.6) | 3.3 (3.2-3.5) |
| ≥70 | 17.4 (16.9-17.8) | 65.7 (65.1-66.3) | 15.1 (14.7-15.6) | 1.8 (1.6-1.9) | 16.7 (16.2-17.1) | 61.9 (61.4-62.5) | 18.7 (18.2-19.2) | 2.7 (2.5-2.9) |
| Sex | ||||||||
| Male | 5.7 (5.6-5.9) | 72.3 (71.9-72.5) | 19.7 (19.4-19.9) | 2.3 (2.2-2.4) | 6.0 (5.8-6.2) | 64.4 (64.1-64.8) | 25.4 (25.1-25.7) | 4.2 (4.0-4.3) |
| Female | 11.0 (10.8-11.2) | 72.5 (72.2-72.8) | 14.7 (14.5-14.9) | 1.8 (1.7-1.9) | 10.6 (10.3-10.8) | 68.0 (67.7-68.3) | 18.3 (18.1-18.6) | 3.1 (3.0-3.3) |
| Residence | ||||||||
| Urban | 8.1 (7.9-8.3) | 70.5 (70.2-70.8) | 18.9 (18.7-19.1) | 2.5 (2.4-2.6) | 7.8 (7.6-8.0) | 65.7 (65.4-66.1) | 22.7 (22.4-23.0) | 3.8 (3.6-3.9) |
| Rural | 8.7 (8.5-8.9) | 74.2 (73.9-74.4) | 15.5 (15.3-15.7) | 1.6 (1.6-1.7) | 8.8 (8.5-9.0) | 66.6 (66.3-67.0) | 21.1 (20.8-21.4) | 3.5 (3.4-3.7) |
| Region | ||||||||
| East | 7.2 (7.0-7.4) | 71.3 (71.0-71.7) | 19.1 (18.7-19.3) | 2.4 (2.3-2.5) | 7.5 (7.3-7.8) | 65.1 (64.7-65.5) | 23.2 (22.9-23.6) | 4.2 (4.0-4.3) |
| Centre | 8.3 (8.0-8.5) | 72.2 (71.9-72.6) | 17.5 (17.2-17.8) | 2.0 (1.9-2.2) | 8.0 (7.7-8.3) | 66.0 (65.5-66.4) | 22.3 (21.9-22.7) | 3.7 (3.6-3.9) |
| West | 9.7 (9.5-9.9) | 73.5 (73.2-73.8) | 15.1 (14.8-15.3) | 1.7 (1.6-1.8) | 9.3 (9.0-9.5) | 67.4 (67.0-67.8) | 20.1 (19.8-20.5) | 3.2 (3.0-3.3) |
| Children and Adolescents | 6.1 (5.9-6.3) | 74.5 (74.1-74.9) | 13.0 (12.7-13.3) | 6.4 (6.2-6.7) | 7.4 (7.2-7.7) | 76.8 (76.4-77.2) | 11.2 (10.9-11.5) | 4.6 (4.4-4.8) |
| Age, y | ||||||||
| 0-5 | 7.4 (7.0-7.8) | 70.6 (69.8-71.4) | 14.2 (13.6-14.8) | 7.8 (7.4-8.3) | 7.9 (7.4-8.3) | 77.3 (76.6-78.0) | 10.1 (9.7-10.6) | 4.7 (4.4-5.1) |
| 6-18 | 5.7 (5.5-6.0) | 73.9 (73.4-74.4) | 13.7 (13.3-14.1) | 6.7 (6.4-7.0) | 8.0 (7.7-8.3) | 72.5 (72.1-73.1) | 13.5 (13.1-13.9) | 6.0 (5.6-6.2) |
| Sex | ||||||||
| Boys | 6.5 (6.2-6.9) | 70.6 (70.0-71.1) | 14.7 (14.3-15.2) | 8.2 (7.9-8.5) | 7.8 (7.5-8.2) | 72.8 (72.2-73.4) | 13.5 (13-13.9) | 5.9 (5.7-6.2) |
| Girls | 5.6 (5.3-5.9) | 79.1 (78.5-79.5) | 10.9 (10.5-11.3) | 4.4 (4.2-4.7) | 7.0 (6.6-7.3) | 81.4 (80.9-81.9) | 8.6 (8.3-9.0) | 3.0 (2.8-3.2) |
| Residence | ||||||||
| Urban | 6.2 (5.8-6.5) | 75.5 (74.9-76.1) | 12.7 (12.2-13.1) | 5.6 (5.4-6.0) | 7.3 (6.9-7.7) | 77.6 (77.0-78.2) | 11.3 (10.8-11.7) | 3.8 (3.6-4.1) |
| Rural | 6.0 (5.8-6.3) | 73.7 (73.2-74.2) | 13.3 (12.9-13.7) | 7.0 (6.7-7.3) | 7.5 (7.2-7.9) | 76.0 (75.4-76.5) | 11.3 (10.9-11.7) | 5.2 (5.0-5.5) |
| Region | ||||||||
| East | 5.7 (5.3-6.1) | 75.4 (74.7-76.1) | 13.2 (12.6-13.8) | 5.7 (5.4-6.1) | 7.3 (6.8-7.8) | 77.5 (76.8-78.2) | 11.2 (10.7-11.8) | 4.0 (3.7-4.3) |
| Centre | 5.9 (5.6-6.3) | 73.3 (72.6-73.9) | 13.9 (13.4-14.5) | 6.9 (6.5-7.3) | 7.3 (6.9-7.8) | 75.5 (74.8-76.2) | 12.4 (11.8-12.9) | 4.8 (4.5-5.1) |
| West | 6.6 (6.2-7.0) | 74.8 (74.1-75.4) | 12.0 (11.6-12.5) | 6.6 (6.3-7.0) | 7.6 (7.2-8.1) | 77.1 (76.4-77.7) | 10.4 (10.0-10.9) | 4.9 (4.6-5.2) |
BMI: Body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared). For infants and toddlers aged 0–2, the recumbent length was measured instead of height. a The prevalence of different BMI status is standardised by age and sex based on the 2010 national census.
We defined adults with BMI <18.5 kg/m² as underweight, those with BMI ≥25 and <30 kg/m² as overweight, and those with BMI ≥30 kg/m² as obese. We defined individuals aged 0-5 with weight-for-height more than 3 standard deviation (SD) above the WHO Child Growth Standards median as obese, 2SD to 3SD above median as overweight, in the range of 2SD below the median to 2SD above the median as healthy weight, and more than 2SD below the median as underweight. We defined those aged 6–18 with BMI-for-age more than 2SD above the WHO Child Growth Standards median as obese, 1SD to 2SD above the median as overweight, in the range of 2SD below the median to 1SD above the median as healthy weight, and more than 2SD below the median as underweight for children and adolescents aged 6-18.
Values are standardised prevalence and its 95% CI. P values were obtained from Chi-square test for the differences among different BMI categories across subgroups between 2013 and 2018. Test was significant (P <0.001) from Chi-square test across different BMI categories by age, sex, residence, region in 2013 and 2018 separately.