TABLE 1. Characteristics of the longitudinal cohort* of persons aged 2–20 years (N = 432,302) and those with at least one body mass index measurement in the year preceding the COVID-19 pandemic but not during the pandemic — IQVIA Ambulatory Electronic Medical Records Database, United States, January 2018─November 2020.
| Characteristic | No. (%) |
|
|---|---|---|
| Persons aged 2–20 years in the IQVIA longitudinal cohort* | Persons aged 2–20 years in the IQVIA database with ≥1 BMI measurement in the year preceding but not during the pandemic | |
|
Total
|
432,302 (100.0)
|
1,419,796 (100.0)
|
|
Sex
| ||
| Female |
213,303 (49.3) |
717,568 (50.5) |
| Male |
218,999 (50.7) |
702,228 (49.5) |
|
Race/Ethnicity†
| ||
| White |
283,915 (65.7) |
840,906 (59.2) |
| Black |
41,466 (9.6) |
135,758 (9.6) |
| Asian |
12,427 (2.9) |
39,186 (2.8) |
| Hispanic |
4,203 (1.0) |
18,001 (1.3) |
| Unknown |
72,010 (16.7) |
325,809 (22.9) |
| Other |
18,281 (4.2) |
60,136 (4.2) |
|
Age group, yrs
§
| ||
| 2–5 |
106,944 (24.7) |
284,872 (20.1) |
| 6–11 |
155,389 (35.9) |
407,720 (28.7) |
| 12–17 |
144,302 (33.4) |
487,031 (34.3) |
| 18–20 |
25,667 (5.9) |
240,173 (16.9) |
|
Initial BMI category¶
| ||
| Underweight |
18,293 (4.2) |
58,801 (4.1) |
| Healthy weight |
279,351 (64.6) |
877,775 (61.8) |
| Overweight |
65,281 (15.1) |
221,749 (15.6) |
| Obesity |
69,377 (16.0) |
261,471 (18.4) |
| Moderate |
48,715 (11.3) |
172,206 (12.1) |
| Severe |
20,662 (4.8) |
89,265 (6.3) |
|
Geographic region**,†† | ||
| South |
197,639 (45.7) |
696,998 (49.1) |
| Northeast |
60,677 (14.0) |
158,036 (11.1) |
| Midwest |
91,704 (21.2) |
275,896 (19.4) |
| West | 82,173 (19.0) | 288,244 (20.3) |
Abbreviation: BMI = body mass index.
*The longitudinal cohort included persons aged 2–19 years at initial BMI measurement, with ≥2 BMI measurements before the pandemic (with ≥1 measurement during the year immediately preceding the pandemic) and ≥1 BMI measurement after the initial 3 months of the pandemic.
† Race and ethnicity categories are mutually exclusive. IQVIA’s Ambulatory Electronic Medical Records database lacks additional information on race and ethnicity because of information being optionally reported in a single composite variable in the electronic health record.
§ Based on age in years on March 1, 2020 (the start of the COVID-19 pandemic period for this analysis). Persons were aged 2–19 years at their initial BMI measurement and aged 3–20 years by March 1, 2020.
¶ Based on initial BMI measurement. BMI categories were defined as underweight (<5th percentile), healthy weight (≥5th to <85th percentile), overweight (≥85th to <95th percentile), moderate obesity (≥95th percentile to <120% of the 95th percentile), and severe obesity (≥120% of the 95th percentile). Moderate obesity and severe obesity are mutually exclusive.
** A total of 109 persons in the longitudinal cohort and 622 persons with one or more BMI measurements in the year preceding but not during the pandemic were missing information on geographic region.
†† U.S. Census regions: Northeast: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin; South: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia; West: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.