Original article
Overweight and Obesity among Youth Participants in American Football

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2007.03.044Get rights and content

Objective

To estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity among participants in youth American football 9 to 14 years of age.

Study design

Cross-sectional, 653 boys, 8.7 to 14.6 years. Height and weight were measured; body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Overweight and obesity were defined by international (International Obesity Task Force [IOTF]) and United States (Centers for Disease Control [CDC]) criteria. Prevalence and 95% confidence interval were calculated. Player age, height, and weight and midparent height were used to predict mature height; current height was expressed as a percentage of predicted mature height as an estimate of maturity status.

Results

Overall 45.0% (41.2% to 48.9%) and 42.6% (38.8% to 46.5%) of players were overweight or obese by CDC and IOTF criteria, respectively. Prevalence was highest in early maturing boys. Based on position-activity at time of injury (n = 180), overweight and obesity were more common among offensive and defensive linemen.

Conclusion

Overweight and obesity were more prevalent in youth football players than in national samples of American boys. Allowing for limitations of the BMI and the relative stability of the BMI from adolescence into adulthood, a relatively large number of football participants may be at risk for later overweight or obesity, and the risk appears to be greater for offensive and defensive line positions.

Section snippets

Methods

Members of teams from 2 communities in the Mid-Michigan PONY (Protect Our Nation’s Youth) Football League in 2000 and 2001 participated in the study. The project was approved by the University Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects at Michigan State University and by league officials in each community. Informed consent of parents and self-assent of players were obtained. The total sample was 653 boys (>96% of participants), 8.7 to 14.6 years of age. One girl (11.1 years, 6th grade)

Results

Descriptive statistics for age, BMI, and BMI percentiles by age group and for the total sample are shown in Table I. The maximum BMI is more than twice as large as the minimum BMI in all age groups except 9 years. Mean BMI increases with age (P < .001), but mean BMI percentiles do not differ among age groups (ns).

The prevalence of overweight and obesity and 95% CI are shown in Table II. The 95% CI overlap across all age groups with each criterion, indicating no significant age effect in

Discussion

Obesity was almost twice as prevalent in football players 9 to 14 years (CDC 25.1%) than in American white boys from 1999 to 2002: 6 to 11 years, 14.0%, and 12 to 19 years, 14.6%.14 Overweight plus obesity were also more prevalent (CDC 45.0%) than in American white boys: 6 to 11 years, 29.3%, and 12 to 19 years 29.2%.14 Because <1% of players were non-white, generalization to youth football participants of other ethnic groups requires caution.

CDC and IOTF criteria gave similar estimates for

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    Supported by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association Foundation, grant no. 300R001.

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