By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n <\/b><\/p>\n THURSDAY, Aug. 17, 2023 (HealthDay News) — There were significantly greater increases in body mass index (BMI) over time in 10- to 12-year-old youth during the COVID-19 pandemic versus before the pandemic, according to a research letter published online Aug. 14 in JAMA Pediatrics<\/em>.<\/p>\n Samantha S. Betts, from University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and colleagues compared weight gain of participants (one- and two-year follow-up assessments acquired before March 2020) to weight gain of participants whose two-year follow-up occurred after the COVID-19 lockdown. The analysis included participants (aged 10 to 12 years) in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (6,359 participants prepandemic and 1,095 intrapandemic).<\/p>\n The researchers found that the pandemic was associated with greater longitudinal increases in BMI in both male and female participants. Female youth assessed during the pandemic gained a mean of 6.8 kg per year — 11.2 percent more than prepandemic female youth who gained 6.1 kg per year — while among male youth, mean weight gain increased by 15.9 percent (from 5.7 to 6.6 kg per year). Among female participants, group \u0097 time interactions were moderated by income-to-needs ratio, although the magnitude of association decreased with higher family income. For youth from upper-income families, rates of weight gain were similar among girls in the intrapandemic and prepandemic periods, while the pandemic was associated with a 1.5-kg (24 percent) increase in annual weight gain in female youth from lower-income families.<\/p>\n “Our results highlight the need to prioritize research and support for disadvantaged families who were most severely impacted by COVID-19,” the authors write.<\/p>\n Abstract\/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/i><\/p>\n<\/del><\/del><\/del><\/del>Effects of the pandemic on weight gain were most pronounced in low-income youth<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n