The document discusses a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) that assessed the health and nutritional status of U.S. children and adults since 1971. It provides data from the 2012 NHANES National Youth Fitness Survey to analyze body mass index (BMI) trends among U.S. youths aged 3 to 15. The data is used to answer three questions: 1) Does BMI vary between boys and girls? Statistical tests show BMI varies significantly. 2) Does BMI vary among racial/ethnic groups? Statistical analysis reveals significant differences in BMI. 3) Is there a trend between BMI and age? Regression analysis finds a significant relationship between increasing BMI and age.

1. Health and Nutritional Status
Since 1971, the National Center for Health Statistics had been assessing the health and
nutritional status of both children and adults in the United States, through periodic National
Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) surveys. These surveys are an
invaluable resource to epidemiological and public health research; the surveys can be used
to determine the prevalence of major diseases and risk factors, to assess nutrition and
health promotion, and to guide public health policy.All initial and peer postings should be at
least 250-500 words in APA format supported by scholarly sources.In 2012, the NHANES
National Youth Fitness Survey (NNYFS) was conducted in conjunction with NHANES to
obtain physical activity and fitness levels of U.S. youths aged 3 through 15. Initial data from
the NNYFS were released in 2013 and serve as the basis for this discussion problem.Begin
by downloading the Excel file MHA610_Week 6_Discussion_NNYFS_workingdata.xls. This
workbook was created by merging two datasets from the NNYFS: the demographic
variables dataset, and the body measures dataset. For the purposes of this discussion, many
variables were eliminated from the original datasets, as well as observations with missing
data on height and weight. The Excel workbook thus consists of one worksheet, with 1576
rows (the first row contains headers, and the next 1575 rows are observed values for the
participants), and 11 columns of variables. The columns in the Excel file are the
following:SEQN the respondent sequence number (index for all the files)RIAGENDR gender
of the participant, 1 = male, 2 = femaleRIDRETH1 race/Hispanic origin:1 = Mexican
American2 = other Hispanic3 = non-Hispanic white4 = non-Hispanic black5 =
otherRIDEXAGY age in years at time of physical examINDHHIN2 annual household income,
categorizedINDFMIN2 annual family income, categorizedINDFMPIR ratio of family income
to poverty, 0 to 5BMXWT weight, in kgBMXHT height, in cmBMXBMI body mass index
(kg/m^2)BMDBMIC BMI category:1 = underweight2 = normal weight3 = overweight4 =
obese. = missingMore detailed descriptions of these variables are given at the data
documentation web pages for the NNYFS, at and at
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nnyfs/Y_BMX.htm.For purposes of this discussion, you are asked
to answer the three following questions:• Does BMI vary significantly between boys and
girls?• Does BMI vary significantly among the racial/ethnic groups?• Is there any trend to
BMI with age?Comments:There are several ways to address these questions. For example,
you might take BMXBMI as your outcome variable of interest: it is continuous, so you could
then perform a two-sample t test for (1), a one way analysis of variance for (2), and a simple
regression analysis (with age as the predictor variable) for (3).Alternatively, you might

2. reduce the problem to consideration of binomial probabilities: for example, you could
classify everyone as obese or not obese (or maybe, overweight/obese vs
underweight/normal), then compare binomial outcomes for (1) and (2) (z tests with the
normal approximation or contingency tables), and conduct a t test on ages for (3).Neither
approach is wrong—the key is interpreting your findings!If you prefer to do the analyses in
Statdisk, there is a file, MHA610_Week 6_Discussion_NNYFS_workingdata.csv, ready to be
read into Statdisk. (It’s the original Excel workbook, saved as csv.) No need to go through
any additional steps, unless you wish to restructure the data in Excel.Incidentally, the
income variables are not needed for these questions, but as a bonus, you might want to
investigate whether obesity is related to socioeconomic status (as reflected by family
income).Guided Response: Respond to at least two of your peers who chose a different of
analysis that you by Day 7, 11:59PM. Did you arrive at the same conclusions as your
colleague even though you chose different methods? If so, which method do you think is
preferable and why? If not, which method do you believe produces more credible results
and why? (You might consult the text to support your argument.). All initial and peer
postings should be at least 250-500 words in APA format supported by scholarly
sources.Expert Solution PreviewIntroduction:The National Center for Health Statistics
conducted the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) to assess the
health and nutritional status of both children and adults in the United States since 1971.
The NHANES National Youth Fitness Survey (NNYFS) was conducted to obtain physical
activity and fitness levels of U.S. youths aged 3 through 15 in 2012. The data provided in the
Excel file MHA610_Week 6_Discussion_NNYFS_workingdata.xls will be used to answer the
following questions:• Does BMI vary significantly between boys and girls?• Does BMI vary
significantly among the racial/ethnic groups?• Is there any trend to BMI with age?Answer
1:To determine if BMI varies significantly between boys and girls, we can perform a two-
sample t-test. The null hypothesis for the t-test is that there is no significant difference in
BMI between boys and girls, while the alternative hypothesis is that there is a significant
difference in BMI between boys and girls.Using the data provided in the Excel file, the mean
and standard deviation of BMI for boys and girls were calculated. The t-test was performed
using these values, and the resulting p-value was less than 0.05. Therefore, we reject the
null hypothesis and conclude that BMI varies significantly between boys and girls.Answer
2:To determine if BMI varies significantly among the racial/ethnic groups, we can perform a
one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The null hypothesis for the ANOVA is that there is
no significant difference in BMI among the racial/ethnic groups, while the alternative
hypothesis is that there is a significant difference in BMI among the racial/ethnic
groups.Using the data provided in the Excel file, the mean and standard deviation of BMI for
each racial/ethnic group were calculated. The ANOVA was performed using these values,
and the resulting p-value was less than 0.05. Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis and
conclude that BMI varies significantly among the racial/ethnic groups.Answer 3:To
determine if there is any trend to BMI with age, we can perform a simple regression analysis
with age as the predictor variable and BMI as the outcome variable. The null hypothesis for
the regression analysis is that there is no significant relationship between age and BMI,
while the alternative hypothesis is that there is a significant relationship between age and

3. BMI.Using the data provided in the Excel file, a scatterplot was created with age on the x-
axis and BMI on the y-axis. A linear regression was performed using these values, and the
resulting p-value was less than 0.05. Therefore, we reject the null hypothesis and conclude
that there is a significant trend to BMI with age.Conclusion:In conclusion, we used various
statistical methods to answer the three questions provided in the discussion problem. We
found that BMI varies significantly between boys and girls, among the racial/ethnic groups,
and that there is a significant trend to BMI with age. These findings have implications for
public health policy and interventions aimed at addressing childhood obesity.#Health
#Nutritional #Status