Trends and projections of overweight and obesity among Chinese college students from 1995 to 2019: Findings from national cross-sectional surveys

BACKGROUND: This paper aimed to investigate the prevalence of overweight and obesity among Chinese college students aged 19-22 years from 1995 to 2019 and projections to 2030. METHODS: Data among 291,276 Han Chinese college students aged 19-22 years were obtained from the Chinese National Surveillance on Students' Constitution and Health from 1995 to 2019. Weight categories were based on standardized weight-for-height values by sex and age. The chi-square trend test was used to estimate trends in prevalence across subgroups. Log-binomial regression was used to estimate the prevalence odds ratios. RESULTS: The prevalence of overweight and obesity among college students aged 19-22 years progressively increased from 3.7% and 0.7% in 1995 to 23.4% and 11.4%, respectively, in 2019 (P < 0.001). Significant increasing trends were observed in all the subgroups (P < 0.001). The increases in the prevalence of overweight and obesity accelerated. The risk of overweight (prevalence odds ratios (PORs): 1.42 ~ 3.01, P < 0.001) and obesity (PORs: 2.82 ~ 4.42, P < 0.001) was greater for males from 1995 to 2019 and for urban students (overweight: 1.21 ~ 1.63, P < 0.001; obesity: 1.31 ~ 1.97, P = 0.004~