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Background: Beginning March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted different aspects of life. The impact on children's rate of weight gain has not been analysed. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we used United States (US) Electronic Health Record (EHR) data from Optum to calculate the age-and sex-adjusted change in BMI (BMI adj ) in individual 6-to-17-year-old children between two well child checks (WCCs). The mean of individual BMI adj during 20172020 was calculated by month. For September-December WCCs, the mean of individual BMI adj (overall and by subgroup) was reported for 2020 and 20172019, and the impact of 2020 vs 20172019 was tested by multivariable linear regression. Findings: The mean 95% Confidence Interval -CI BMI adj in September-December of 2020 was 062 059,064 kg/m 2 , compared to 031 029, 032 kg/m 2 in previous years. The increase was most prominent in children with pre-existing obesity (116 107,124 kg/m 2 in 2020 versus 056 052,061 kg/m 2 in previous years), Hispanic children (093 084,102 kg/m 2 in 2020 versus 041 036,046 kg/m 2 in previous years), and children who lack commercial insurance (088 081,095 kg/m 2 in 2020 compared to 043 039,047 kg/m 2 in previous years). BMI adj accelerated most in ages 812 and least in ages 1517.
Brooks et al. (Fri,) studied this question.