Changes in Body Mass Index Among Children and Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with weight gain among adults, 1 but little is known about the weight of US children and adolescents. To evaluate pandemic-related changes in weight in school-aged youths, we compared the body mass index (BMI; calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) of youths aged 5 to 17 years during the pandemic in 2020 with BMI in the same period before the pandemic in 2019.