Growth and obesity status of children from the middle socioeconomic group in Lucknow, northern India: A comparison with studies on children from the upper socioeconomic group.

BACKGROUND: Children from the upper socioeconomic group in India currently show a modest positive secular trend in height, accompanied by a high prevalence of obesity. We examined the anthropometric pattern among children from the middle socioeconomic group. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of anthropometry in 3794 schoolchildren from the middle socioeconomic group in the city of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. RESULTS: A comparison with the data of a 20-year-old study of children from the upper socioeconomic group showed that the height of boys in our study was at par with or higher than that of boys of the same (Lucknow-Allahabad-Varanasi) region or national data, at all centiles. In contrast, girls in our study were shorter than national data at all centiles and shorter than girls of the same region at the 3rd centile. Children from the middle socioeconomic group did not show the large increase in weight centiles seen in the recent data of the upper socioeconomic group. The values of body mass index at the 85th and 95th percentile at 17 or 18 years of age in girls and boys were 23 and 25 kg/m2, respectively. Obesity was prevalent in 1% of children of the middle socioeconomic group and an additional 5.7% were overweight. CONCLUSIONS: Children from the middle socioeconomic group in Lucknow have grown taller than their 20-year-old counterparts from the upper socioeconomic group. Boys have fared better than girls. Children from the middle socioeconomic group in Lucknow are at present spared from the epidemic of obesity.