Childhood Obesity Screening and Assessment

The height, weight and waist circumference of children wearing light clothing without shoes were measured with standard methods, and the data were accurate to 0.1 cm and 0.1 kg. The electronic sphygmomanometer (Omron HEM-7136) was used to measure the systolic and diastolic blood pressure for three times with an interval of 30 seconds. The average value was calculated for analysis. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated by dividing a child’s weight (in kilograms) by height (in square meters). The diagnosis of overweight and obesity is based on Chinese sex- and age-specific BMI criteria, that is, a BMI at or above the 85^th and 95^th percentile, respectively (9 (link)). The age-specific BMI Z-scores were calculated using WHO AnthroPlus software. According to BMI Z-scores, children were classified as: normal weight with Z-scores from −2 to +0.99, overweight from 1 to 1.99, obese from 2 to 2.99, and very obese ≥ 3 (10 (link), 11 (link)).