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Age patterns in overweight and wasting prevalence of under 5-year-old children from low- and middle-income countries

Luiza I C Ricardo1, Giovanna Gatica-Domínguez2, Inácio Crochemore-Silva3

  • 1International Center for Equity in Health, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil. luizaicricardo@gmail.com.

International Journal of Obesity (2005)
|July 23, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Childhood overweight and wasting decrease with age in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Infants show higher prevalence, potentially due to measurement variability or rapid growth. This highlights age-related nutritional trends in vulnerable populations.

Area of Science:

  • Global Health
  • Pediatric Nutrition
  • Developmental Pediatrics

Background:

  • Childhood malnutrition, including overweight and wasting, presents a significant public health challenge in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
  • Understanding the age-specific prevalence of these nutritional status indicators is crucial for targeted interventions and policy development.
  • Existing data often lack detailed age-stratified analyses across diverse LMICs.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the variation in overweight and wasting prevalence across different age groups (0-5 years) in children from LMICs.
  • To analyze trends in nutritional status indicators in relation to country income levels.
  • To explore the relationship between age, weight-for-height z-scores (WHZ), and the prevalence of overweight and wasting.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized nationally representative data from Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys across 90 LMICs (2010-2019).
  • Defined overweight and wasting based on WHO 2006 standards for weight-for-length/height z-scores (WHZ).
  • Conducted descriptive analyses stratified by age and country income, using fractional polynomials to assess prevalence trends.

Main Results:

  • Overall overweight prevalence decreased with age, from 6.3% in infants (0-11 months) to 3.0% in 4-year-olds.
  • Wasting was most frequent in infants, with a slight decrease in the second year of life, and prevalence was higher in lower-middle-income countries.
  • Mean WHZ remained stable, but WHZ standard deviation decreased with age, and prevalence of both conditions was higher in infants for any given WHZ value.

Conclusions:

  • The declining prevalence of overweight and wasting with age in infants may be influenced by measurement error or rapid growth channel crossing.
  • Infants exhibit greater variability in nutritional status indicators compared to older children.
  • Findings underscore the critical need for age-specific nutritional assessments and interventions in LMICs.
Abstract

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