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AIM: Trends in childhood overweight, obesity and severe obesity have been lacking in Norway. This study assessed pre-pandemic trends from 2010 to 2019 and evaluated differences in prevalence during the 2020-2022 pandemic years. METHODS: Routine height and weight measurements from child and school health centres were extracted retrospectively from children aged 2, 4, 6, 8 and 13 years. Overweight, obesity and severe obesity was classified according to the International Obesity Task Force cut-offs. Pre-pandemic trends were estimated using linear regression. The prevalence during the pandemic was compared to the 95% prediction interval of this model. RESULTS: We obtained 181 527 body mass index measurements on 78 024 children (51.0% boys). There was a decrease in the prevalence of overweight including obesity from 2010 to 2019 in boys and this was statistically significant at 4 and 13 years of age. We found no significant trends in girls during this period. During the pandemic, the prevalence of overweight including obesity exceeded the prediction intervals for boys aged 4, 6, and 8 years, and for 6-year-old girls. CONCLUSION: From 2010-2019, overweight including obesity plateaued in girls and decreased in boys but increased during the pandemic among prepubertal boys. Routine healthcare data is useful for estimating the prevalence of different weight status.
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AIMS: The overarching aim of this study was to evaluate the Norwegian guidelines for growth monitoring using routinely collected data from healthy children up to five years of age. We analysed criteria for both status (size for age) and change (centile crossing) in growth. METHODS: Longitudinal data were obtained from the electronic health record (EHR) at the well-baby clinic for 2130 children included in the Bergen growth study 1 (BGS1). Measurements of length, weight, weight-for-length, body mass index (BMI) and head circumference were converted to z-scores and compared with the World Health Organization (WHO) growth standards and the national growth reference. RESULTS: Using the WHO growth standard, the proportion of children above +2SD was generally higher than the expected 2.3% for all traits at birth and for length at all ages. Crossing percentile channels was common during the first two years of life, particularly for length/height. By the age of five years, 37.9% of the children had been identified for follow-up regarding length/height, 33% for head circumference and 13.6% for high weight-for-length/BMI. CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of children beyond the normal limits of the charts is higher than expected, and a surprisingly large number of children were identified for rules concerning length or growth in head circumference. This suggests the need for a revision of the current guidelines for growth monitoring in Norway.
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AIM: The Norwegian Action Plan for a Healthier Diet (2017-2021) set the target that 25% of infants should be exclusively breastfed for 6 months by 2022. Our aim was to determine trends in the prevalence and duration of breastfeeding in the municipality of Bergen. METHODS: Data on breastfeeding status in 2010-2018 were extracted from a standardised electronic medical record kept by public child health centres and recorded as exclusive, partial or none, at 6 weeks and 6 months of age. RESULTS: We found that 28,503 and 26,735 infants attended the 6-week and 6-month consultations, respectively. The prevalence of any breastfeeding was 92.0% at 6 weeks and 78.0% at 6 months with no trend over time between 2010 and 2018. The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding at 6 weeks was 73.9% and stable over time, but it declined at 6 months, from 28.1% in 2010 to 11.1% in 2014 and remained stable thereafter. CONCLUSION: During 2010-2018, the prevalence of any and exclusive breastfeeding at 6 weeks and any breastfeeding at 6 months was stable. Exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months declined halfway through the study period, to a stable, but low, prevalence of 11.1% by 2014.