Thinness among young Japanese women

H. Takimoto, N. Yoshiike, F. Kaneda and K. Yoshita

American Journal of Public Health, 2004, vol. 94, issue 9, 1592-1595

Abstract: Objectives. We described changes in body mass index (BMI) and the prevalence of thinness among young Japanese women (aged 15-29 years) from 1976 to 2000 by reanalyzing the nationwide data in the National Nutrition Survey, Japan. Methods. We used height and weight data sets for 30903 nonpregnant, non-lactating women during the 25-year period. We calculated the mean values of BMI and the prevalence of thinness for 3 age groups (15-19, 20-24, and 25-29 years of age). Results. Changes in BMI per 10 years were -0.17 kg/m2, -0.22 kg/m2, and -0.34 kg/m2 for each age group, respectively. Extreme thinness (BMI < 17 kg/m2) increased from 2.4% in 1976-1980 to 4.2% in 1996-2000. Conclusions. Further studies regarding topics such as increased smoking prevalence are needed to identify the underlying causes of increasing thinness.

Date: 2004
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:2004:94:9:1592-1595_6

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().