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Purpose: The aim of the study was to estimate centiles by using improved statistical smoothing procedure, the Box-Cox power-exponential (BCPE) method, in urban northern Indian adolescents aged 11-17 years. Materials and Methods: Data were collected cross-sectionally by measuring specific anthropometric features such as height, weight, and mid-upper arm circumference in school-based adolescents aged 11-17 years including both boys (n = 838) and girls (n = 788) enrolled in government educational institutions in urban Delhi. We used a state-of-the-art statistical methodology (BCPE method) to establish centile curves. Results: The model fitted before smoothing revealed that weight, height, and BMI did not follow a normal distribution; both skewness and kurtosis were observed in all three variables. After correcting both skewness and kurtosis, estimated empirical percentile values showed a gradual increase in weight, height, and BMI in both boys and girls. Girls had higher weight and height than boys in initial ages and observed a steep increase in boys in both weight and height in later ages. BMI was higher in girls than boys and visibly higher during 14-16 years of age. The 50th percentile value of BMI was smaller in all the ages in our study than that in other studies. Conclusions: Smoothened percentile values derived for BMI by using the state-of-the-art statistical methodology may help policymakers to promote better growth in urban adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Overweight and obesity are a public health problem in India not only in adults but also in children. The authors sought to estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity in school-going children of 6–17 years of age and examine its demographic and dietary correlates in context of their urban-rural status and socio-economic status. Methods: In this cross-sectional survey height and weight were measured in 1266 school children in government and private schools of urban and rural areas. Dietary assessment was done using single day 24-hour dietary recall method. The data were analyzed using SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics Version 19) and WHO AnthroPlus Software. Factorial ANOVA was used for testing interaction within and between subgroups for continuous variables and Chi-square test was used for categorical variables. Results: It was found that the overall prevalence of overweight was 15.6% of which 5.4% were obese, with maximum prevalence in boys attending urban private schools. The mean caloric intake in the study population with 24-hour dietary recall method was 1558.2 kilocalories (SD: 428 kilocalories). Conclusion: Overweight and obesity is a significant problem in school-going children. Higher socio-economic status continues to remain an important driver of this epidemic in the younger generation and affects demographic and dietary determinants of this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]