This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

John H. Himes, PhD, MPH; Mary Story, PhD; Kathleen Czaplinski, MS, RD; Elizabeth Dahlberg-Luby, MS

Am J Dis Child. 1992;146(1):67-69.

Abstract
• Objective.
—To determine if there is evidence of obesity in low-income Hmong children.

Design.
—Cross-sectional survey.

Setting.
—Women, Infants, and Children clinics in Minneapolis, Minn.

Participants.
—271 US-born Hmong children, ages 1.00 through 4.99 years.

Selection Procedures.
—Consecutive sample of all Hmong children seen in two clinics between September and December 1989.

Interventions.
—None.

Measurements/Main Results.
—Heights and weights were measured and converted to National Center for Health Statistics z scores of weight for age, height for age, and weight for height. Relative to National Center for Health Statistics reference data, mean height-for-age z scores decline progressively after age 2 years to – 1.2 z at age 4.5 years. Mean weight-for-height z scores exceeded the National Center for Health Statistics reference significantly at ages 3 and 4 years, and there was more than a fourfold excess of Hmong children beyond the 95th percentile in weight for height at these ages.

Conclusions.
—There is evidence of early obesity in Hmong children, an ethnic group heretofore considered to be a low risk for obesity.

(AJDC. 1992;146:67-69)

Author Affiliations
From the Division of Human Development and Nutrition, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (Drs Himes and Story and Ms Dahlberg-Luby), and the Minneapolis Health Department (Ms Czaplinski).

Footnotes
Accepted for publication September 16, 1991.

Reprints are not available.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?