COVID‐19–Related School Closings and Risk of Weight Gain Among Children

• Published in: Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) Vol. 28; no. 6; pp. 1008 - 1009
• Main Authors: Rundle, Andrew G., Park, Yoosun, Herbstman, Julie B., Kinsey, Eliza W., Wang, Y. Claire
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-06-2020
• Subjects: Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Obesity; School closures; Web sites; Hong Kong; United States > US
• ISSN: 1930-7381; 1930-739X
• DOI: 10.1002/oby.22813

[...]we anticipate that the COVID-19 pandemic will likely double out-of-school time this year for many children in the United States and will exacerbate the risk factors for weight gain associated with summer recess. While parks and playgrounds remain open in some cities, there is widespread appreciation that it is not possible to keep the playgrounds clean and children will have difficulty maintaining social distance. [...]urban families may, understandably, elect not to use these spaces, exacerbating the disparity between those who can/ cannot remain physically active outdoors. [...]the National Institutes of Health's Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes program (ECHO; https://www.nih.gov/research-training/environmentalinfluences-child-health-outcomes-echo-program) includes 70 cohorts that are studying childhood obesity and is a resource that can be used to study the obesity-related consequences of extended school closure.O Funding agencies: Wang is funded by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of National Institutes of Health (grant R01HL141427 "Assessment of Policies Through Prediction of Long-Term Effects on Cardiovascular Disease Using Simulation [APPLE CDS]").