Use of Data Mining to Reveal Body Mass Index (BMI): Patterns Among Pennsylvania Schoolchildren, Pre‐K to Grade 12

Abstract

A pattern of increasing BMI for elementary students with a corresponding decrease among middle and high school students emerged. The means trends for both overweight and obesity were greater in 2009 than in 2005, increasing steadily to 2008 and slightly declining to 2009. The dominant overall pattern flows from overweight to obese. If continued unabated, percentage of students who are obese will dominate over time.

Exploring Categorical Body Mass Index Trajectories in Elementary School Children

“…These transition rates reflect the general movement toward overweight and obese states over time. A similar trend was found by YoussefAgha et al 24 Children in the normal BMI category were the most stable, partially reflecting the broad range of BMI values in that state. 24 A summary review of those studies focusing on trajectory analysis (Table 1) indicated that the trajectory patterns and number of trajectories varied among the different studies, reflecting differences in analytical methods, sample selection, and the objectives of the specific study.…”

“…A similar trend was found by YoussefAgha et al 24 Children in the normal BMI category were the most stable, partially reflecting the broad range of BMI values in that state. 24 A summary review of those studies focusing on trajectory analysis (Table 1) indicated that the trajectory patterns and number of trajectories varied among the different studies, reflecting differences in analytical methods, sample selection, and the objectives of the specific study. In general, however, all the studies identified a group, regardless of what it was named, that included those children who had a BMI in the normal category and did not change over time.…”

“…These transition rates reflect the general movement toward overweight and obese states over time. A similar trend was found by YoussefAgha et al Children in the normal BMI category were the most stable, partially reflecting the broad range of BMI values in that state …”

“…In addition, information about the timing of weight gain may be helpful for the development of effective interventions . A number of studies have focused on body mass index (BMI) change from childhood to adolescence or adolescence to adulthood and have highlighted the importance of understanding growth trajectories …”

“…16 A number of studies have focused on body mass index (BMI) change from childhood to adolescence or adolescence to adulthood and have highlighted the importance of understanding growth trajectories. [13][14][15][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] However, as seen in Table 1 only a few studies have focused on BMI growth trajectories solely during childhood. 11,16,[25][26][27] Balesteri and Van Hook 16 modeled prevalence of overweight and obesity in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) from K to eighth grade.…”