[Prevalence of obesity in Hong Kong children and adolescents aged 3-18 years].

A cross-sectional study on growth and development in Hong Kong children and adolescents ranging from their birth to 18 years of age was performed in 1993 and all the growth standards were constructed in the form of percentile chart. Those having a weight at one's median weight for height standard of 120% were defined as obesity. Prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents aged 3-18 was 10.08% (11.28% and 8.93% for boys and girls, respectively), which was higher than that in the inland of the country and that in Hong Kong as previously reported. Result showed there was a gradual increase in the prevalence after the age of 5, which reached a peak at the age of 11 for boys and 8 for girls.