Chen Jiebo, Luo Dongmei, Fan Xue
Department of Sports Science, Nantong University, Nantong, China.
Department of Kinesiology, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China.
Front Public Health. 2024 Dec 18;12:1454436. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1454436. eCollection 2024.
This study aimed to investigate the impact of underweight, overweight, and obesity on the growth and development of preschoolers by comparing body shape characteristics across different weight statuses.
A total of 729 preschoolers (5.2 ± 0.83 years, 53.8% boys) from three kindergartens were assessed for 11 different body shape measurements. Two-way ANOVA was employed to examine BMI variations across different ages and sexes. Discriminant analysis was utilized to identify body shape measurements correlated with BMI, and one-way ANOVA was conducted to compare the body shape differences among preschoolers with varying BMI.
(1) There was no significant interaction effect of gender and age on BMI ( = 1.602, = 0.173). Additionally, neither the main effect of age ( = 1.461, = 0.228) nor the main effect of sex ( = 0.905, = 0.345) was significant. (2) The results of the stepwise discriminant analysis showed that chest circumference, calf length, calf circumference, foot length, and width between greater trochanters entered the discriminant model, with the three discriminant functions explaining 95.8, 3.1, and 1.1% of variance, respectively. (3) Compared to their normal-weight counterparts, obese preschoolers displayed significantly larger measurements in chest circumference, width between greater trochanters, calf circumference, calf length, and foot length ( < 0.05). Overweight preschoolers also exhibited larger chest and calf circumferences, and width between greater trochanters ( < 0.05), while underweight children showed lagging development in various body shape measurements ( < 0.05).
Variations in BMI were significantly correlated with preschoolers' body shape which included chest circumference, calf length, calf circumference, foot length, and the distance between the greater trochanters. Overweight and obese preschoolers experienced faster body growth; conversely, underweight preschoolers often showed delayed growth. This underscores that the underweight group also merits attention and concern.
本研究旨在通过比较不同体重状况下的身体形态特征，探讨体重过轻、超重和肥胖对学龄前儿童生长发育的影响。
对来自三所幼儿园的729名学龄前儿童（5.2±0.83岁，男孩占53.8%）进行了11项不同身体形态测量。采用双向方差分析来检验不同年龄和性别的BMI差异。利用判别分析来确定与BMI相关的身体形态测量指标，并进行单向方差分析以比较不同BMI学龄前儿童的身体形态差异。
（1）性别和年龄对BMI没有显著的交互作用（F = 1.602，P = 0.173）。此外，年龄的主效应（F = 1.461，P = 0.228）和性别的主效应（F = 0.905，P = 0.345）均不显著。（2）逐步判别分析结果显示，胸围、小腿长度、小腿周长、足长和大转子间宽度进入了判别模型，三个判别函数分别解释了95.8%、3.1%和1.1%的方差。（3）与正常体重的同龄人相比，肥胖学龄前儿童的胸围、大转子间宽度、小腿周长、小腿长度和足长测量值明显更大（P < 0.05）。超重学龄前儿童的胸围和小腿周长以及大转子间宽度也更大（P < 0.05），而体重过轻的儿童在各种身体形态测量方面表现出发育滞后（P < 0.05）。
BMI的变化与学龄前儿童的身体形态显著相关，这些身体形态包括胸围、小腿长度、小腿周长、足长和大转子间距离。超重和肥胖的学龄前儿童身体生长更快；相反，体重过轻的学龄前儿童往往生长延迟。这突出表明体重过轻组也值得关注和重视。
