Secular trends in weight, height and weight for height among children under 7 years in nine cities of China, 1975–2015: results from five repeated cross-sectional surveys

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the secular trends in mean value and distribution of weight, height and weight for height in children under 7 years in developed regions in China. DESIGN: Five repeated cross-sectional surveys were conducted using the same methods at the same sites during 1975–2015. SETTING: Nine cities in northern, central and southern regions of China. POPULATION: Healthy children under 7 years; the sample sizes were 94 496 in 1975, 79 177 in 1985, 79 152 in 1995, 69 760 in 2005 and 83 583 in 2015. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Weight and height were measured by the same methods in the five surveys. RESULTS: The increasing trends in the mean value of weight, height and weight for height were observed and their distribution was found to have shifted upwards. There were unbalanced increments in various centiles and the relative increments in the 3rd centile of height for children under 7 years were larger than those in the 50th and 97th centiles. Although the relative increments in the 3rd centile of weight for children under 2 years were larger than those in the 50th and 97th centiles, the increments in the 97th centile for children older than 2 years became the largest compared with other centiles. The changes in each centile of weight for height were similar with those of weight. The annual increments of height and weight increased over time and were more significant between birth and 2 years of age for height and between ages 4 years and 6 years for weight. The per-decade increments in 1975–1985, 1985–1995 and 1995–2005 became larger, while those in 2005–2015 slowed down. CONCLUSIONS: The rapid increasing trends of weight, height and weight for height had slowed down since 2005 in developed regions of China. The relative increments in the low centile of height were more significant, while the high centile of weight and weight for height increased more significantly in older children.