Table 2.

Body composition and blood pressure characteristics of 220 children and adolescents before and during the COVID-19 pandemic stratified according to weight status.

Characteristic	Before the COVID-19 pandemic	During the COVID-19 pandemic	p value
Underweight (BMI z-scores ≤ −1.645) n = 37 (26 boys)
Body mass index, z-scores	−2.07 [−2.34, −1.88]	−1.73 [−2.35, −1.37]	<0.001
Fat percentage	17.5 [14.9, 19.9]	17.2 [13.8, 20.1]	0.154
Truncal fat percentage	13.7 [10.8, 15.4]	12.5 [10.0, 15.1]	0.078
Muscle-to-fat, z-scores	−0.08 ± 1.11	0.12 ± 0.95	0.050
Systolic BP, percentiles	69 [35, 87]	64 [35, 75]	0.544
Diastolic BP, percentiles	67 [29, 80]	65 [50, 78]	0.168
Normal weight (−1.645 < BMI z-scores < 1.036) n = 123 (60 boys)
Body mass index, z-scores	−0.38 [−0.95, 0.27]	−0.24 [−0.87, 0.37]	0.035
Fat percentage	20.7 [18.2, 24.0]	20.6 [17.1, 24.3]	0.200
Truncal fat percentage	15.5 [13.3, 18.5]	15.3 [11.9, 18.4]	0.091
Muscle-to-fat, z-scores	−0.20 ± 0.84	−0.06 ± 0.81	0.008
Systolic BP, percentiles	73 [47, 83]	69 [50, 83]	0.760
Diastolic BP, percentiles	62 [48, 81]	63 [47, 79]	0.783
Overweight/obesity (BMI z-scores ≥ 1.036) n = 60 (23 boys)
Body mass index, z-scores	1.74 [1.40, 2.03]	1.70 [1.36, 1.97]	0.412
Fat percentage	33.8 [29.4, 39.2]	33.7 [29.0, 38.5]	0.529
Truncal fat percentage	27.9 [23.7, 34.2]	29.1 [23.6, 33.1]	0.531
Muscle-to-fat, z-scores	−1.42 ± 0.48	−1.36 ± 0.50	0.169
Systolic BP, percentiles	87 [68, 95]	87 [79, 93]	0.122
Diastolic BP, percentiles	72 [53, 82]	75 [58, 86]	0.238

Data are presented as median [interquartile range] and mean ± SD.

Bold indicates statistical significance.

BP, blood pressure.