Survey of BMI distribution among university students aged 17 - 24 in Wenzhou

Abstract

To study the body mass index of university students of different ages in Wenzhou, a screening of underweighnt, overweight and obesity is carried out according to the "Body Mass Index Reference Norm for Screening Overweight and Obesity in Chinese Children and Adolescents" issued by WGOC. The result shows that the BMI percentile fluctuates little among students aged 17 - 24. BMI P85, P95 are both lower than the norm issued by WGOC, particularly among female students. About 79% students have a normal BMI and 21% students are in exception. While the screening of obesity rate is comparatively low in both genders, the overweight rate and underweight rate exhibit a gender difference with the former favors male groups aged 21-23 and the latter favors female group. In terms of the normal BMI distribution, the two genders show little difference at each age except 18. But for underweight rate and overweight rate, there is a significant difference between two genders at the age of 19 - 23. Obesity rate only shows a gender difference in the age group of 18. It is concluded that the BMI classification norm for Chinese adults should be adopted in evaluating overweight and obesity situation in university students. With the increasing of age, male students have the tendency of overweight and obesity and female students have the tendency of underweight. At each age, the underweight rate in female students is higher than that of male students and the overweight and obesity rate in male students are higher than those of female students. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.