ArticlePloS one2024
Projected health and economic effects of the increase in childhood obesity during the COVID-19 pandemic in England: The potential cost of inaction.
Article in PloS one, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Rewiring Adipocyte Plasticity: The Redox-Mitochondrial Axis as a Driver of Beige Fat Immunometabolism and Adipose Inflammation.Biomolecules · 2026Review
- Observational
- Longitudinal Changes in the Adjusted Body Mass Index (BMI) Percentile Among Children in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, During and After the COVID-19 Lockdown.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Child Body Mass Index and Health Care Costs in England.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Bridging the gap in obesity research: A consensus statement from the European Society for Clinical Investigation.European journal of clinical investigation · 2025Review
- Current and Emerging Parenteral and Peroral Medications for Weight Loss: A Narrative Review.Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sarcopenic obesity among children between 6 and 10 years of age: a prospective study.European journal of pediatrics · 2025Article
- 'We're Not in a Place Where We Can Thrive Yet': A Qualitative Exploration of Systems of Health Promotion in Primary Schools in the Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic.Child: care, health and development · 2025Article
- Article
- Methodological considerations for estimating indirect costs in children and adolescents with chronic conditions: a scoping review.BMC pediatrics · 2025Article
- Effects of Physical Activity and Inactivity on Microvasculature in Children: The Hong Kong Children Eye Study.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2024Article
- Risk Factors and 20-Year Time-Trend in Childhood Overweight and Obesity in Switzerland: A Repeated Cross-Sectional Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThe prevalence of overweight and obesity in young children rose sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we estimate the potential future health and economic effects of these trends in England.
methodsUsing publicly available annual Body Mass Index (BMI) data from 2006-2022, we calculated the increase in overweight/obesity prevalence (BMI ≥85th reference percentile) during the COVID-19 pandemic among children aged 4-5 and 10-11, and variation by deprivation and ethnicity. We projected the impact of child BMI trends on adult health measures to estimate added lifelong medical and social costs.
resultsDuring 2020-2021 there were steep increases in overweight and obesity prevalence in children. By 2022, overweight and obesity prevalence in children aged 4-5 returned to expected levels based on pre-pandemic trends. However, overweight and obesity prevalence in children aged 10-11 persisted and was 4 percentage points (p<0.001) higher than expected, representing almost 56,000 additional children. The increase was twice as high in the most compared with the least deprived areas. The additional lifelong healthcare cost in this cohort will amount to £800 million with a cost to society of £8.7 billion. We did not find an increase in maternal obesity associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, however, prevalence grew faster in the post pandemic period. DISCUSSION: The return of overweight and obesity prevalence to pre-pandemic trends in children aged 4-5 provides a clear policy target for effective intervention to tackle this growing and serious population health concern.
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