Introduction:

Negative health consequences due to social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic were observed worldwide; overweight and obesity showed increasing trends.

Objective:

To analyze the changes in overweight, obesity and diet of schoolchildren in northwest Mexico before and after lockdown due to COVID-19.

Materials and methods:

Weight, height, and waist circumference of schoolchildren (n=479 pre-pandemic and n=820 post-pandemic) were collected in public schools located in medium to high marginalization neighborhoods. In the same periods dietary data was collected from a subsample of 203 and 179 schoolchildren, respectively.

Results:

The average age of schoolchildren in 2019 was 8,9 ±1,75 and 9,1 ± 1,54 in 2022. An increase in percentage of 6,2 was observed in the overweight plus obesity prevalence and a significant difference in the distribution of nutritional status (p=0,049) between the two periods. In addition, changes in central adiposity were observed, with an increase of 3 centimeters in waist circumference (p=0,001; 62,6 and 65,6 cm). The healthy eating index (HAI) classified the diet of schoolchildren as unhealthy during both periods.

Conclusions:

The increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity, as well as central adiposity is worrying given that they were already a health problem before the COVID 19 confinement.