{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T21:25:00Z","timestamp":1792099500893,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,18]],"date-time":"2024-01-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1705536000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,18]],"date-time":"2024-01-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1705536000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pediatr Res"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,5]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>COVID-19 has had profound societal impacts. This study estimated overweight, obesity, and extreme obesity rates in 4-year-old children over pre- and post-COVID-19 periods, and investigated differential changes between sex, ethnic and deprivation groups.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>A national screening programme of 4-year-old children undertaking B4 School Checks (B4SCs) between 1 January 2010 and 7 March 2023 was analysed. B4SCs include anthropometric measurements enabling sex-specific body mass index-for-age Z-scores (BMI z-scores) to be derived. Children with \u226585th, \u226595th, and \u226599.7th percentile BMI z-scores were classified as overweight, obese, and extremely obese.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>The eligible sample included 656,038 children (48.8% girls). Overall, 210,492 (32.1%) children were overweight, 95,196 (14.5%) obese, and 19,926 (3.0%) extremely obese. While decreasing in the pre-COVID-19 period, annual prevalence estimates for overweight, obese, and extremely obese significantly (all <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009&lt;\u20090.001) increased in the year after COVID-restrictions were implemented. However, after three years, overweight and obese prevalence estimates were no different to pre-COVID levels overall or stratified by sex for ethnicity and deprivation groups. Extreme obesity prevalence estimates also decreased but remained higher than pre-COVID levels.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>The sharp and steep increases in prevalence estimates all dampened relatively quickly. The question remains whether these rates will continue to decrease in time.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Impact<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p><jats:list list-type=\"bullet\">\n                  <jats:list-item>\n                    <jats:p>Compared to pre-COVID-19 estimates, the prevalence of overweight, obesity and extreme obesity significantly and substantially increased for 4-year-old children in the immediate post-COVID-19 period.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:list-item>\n                  <jats:list-item>\n                    <jats:p>These post-COVID-19 prevalence estimates dampened relatively quickly, returning to pre-COVID-19 rates for overweight and obesity after 3 years.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:list-item>\n                  <jats:list-item>\n                    <jats:p>Inequities between ethnic and social deprivation groups in overweight and obesity prevalence estimates remained similar between pre- and post-COVID-19 periods.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:list-item>\n                <\/jats:list><\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41390-024-03025-6","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,18]],"date-time":"2024-01-18T13:02:32Z","timestamp":1705582952000},"page":"1649-1657","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["COVID-19 impact on overweight and obesity rates in Aotearoa | New Zealand 4-year-old children"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"95","author":[{"given":"Philip J.","family":"Schluter","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Annabel","family":"Ahuriri-Driscoll","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jalal","family":"Mohammed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sheetalpreet","family":"Singh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"3025_CR1","unstructured":"World Health Organization. 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