Growth Charts for Height, Weight, and BMI (6–18 y) for the Tuscany Youth Sports Population

Gabriele Mascherini, Giorgio Galanti, Luciano Massetti, Piergiuseppe Calà and Pietro Amedeo Modesti
Additional contact information
Gabriele Mascherini: Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy
Giorgio Galanti: Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy
Luciano Massetti: Institute of Biometeorology, National Research Council, 50145 Florence, Italy
Piergiuseppe Calà: Sector "Health and Safety in the Workplace and Special Processes in the Field of Prevention", Directorate of Citizenship Rights and Social Cohesion, Tuscany Region, 50139 Florence, Italy
Pietro Amedeo Modesti: Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 24, 1-8

Abstract: Overweight during youth is a large-scale public health issue. Engaging in regular physical activity generally reduces weight status. The hypothesis of the study is that organized sport plays an active role in maintaining a correct body weight during youth. The purpose of this study is to trace growth charts by height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) to be applied to the youth sports population. A retrospective study was conducted on 14,700 young athletes (10,469 males and 4231 females) aged between 6 and 18 years from surveillance carried out during the pre-participation screening of sports eligibility. The calculation of the prevalence of overweight and obesity was also performed. The new percentiles for the youth sports population show BMI values at 18 years 21.9 kg/m 2 for males and 20.7 kg/m 2 for females at the 50th percentile. The male sample shows 12.3% of the subjects were overweight and 1.5% were obese, while the female sample shows 9.8% are overweight and 1.1% obese. The higher prevalence of excess weight is evident up to 12 years old in both sexes and then gradually decreases. The development of the new specific growth charts for the youth sports population could reduce the risk of error in identifying the correct weight status of young athletes.

Keywords: overweight; obese; young athletes; percentile; children; adolescent (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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