Differences of height and body mass index of youths in urban vs rural areas in Hunan province of China

Abstract

Background: Economic reforms in China were implemented approximately 30 years ago. Since then, people's nutrition, living conditions and overall health have continually improved, but there has been an imbalance between the progresses in urban vs rural areas. Height and body mass index (BMI) are regarded as two important indicators of nutritional status and overall health. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate differences in height and BMI between Chinese youths of rural vs urban areas and further, to determine whether these differences have changed over time (1990s vs 2000s). Subject and methods: 24 194 urban youths and 7130 rural youths were recruited in Hunan province of China. In each gender group, the subjects were divided into eight subsets according to age, geographic area residence, and decade when the youths were measured. Independent t-tests were used to test the differences of height and BMI between the studied groups. Results: Both male and female youths from urban areas were significantly taller than youths from rural areas in both the 1990s and 2000s (all pp=0.21). The height of youths was significantly greater in the 2000s compared to the corresponding gender and geographic subset in the 1990s (pp=0.10). Similar results were obtained for BMI. Conclusion: There are significant differences in height and BMI between youths raised in urban vs rural areas, and positive growth trends of height and BMI over time (1990s vs 2000s) in youths in Hunan Province of China.