Prevalence of thinness in children and adolescents in the Seychelles: comparison of two international growth references (original) (raw)
2011
- Results: Please rephrase lines 2-3 to correct the information “The prevalence of the thinness categories tended to change according to age.” According to the results presented by authors, using the IS reference the prevalence of the thinness categories tended to change according to age for both sexes. Using the WHO reference this trend is confirmed only for girls. We have reformulated the sentence as suggested by the Reviewer 2) Conclusion: I suggest delete the last phrase “Universal cut-offs...thinness categories”, as this statement cannot be concluded with the analysis and results of the present article. This phrase sounds like a suggestion not as a conclusion. We agree with the Reviewer. This sentence was meant to put the findings in a broader perspective. This information appears in the discussion and has been deleted from the abstract. METHODS AND POPULATION 3) The most important concern refers to the statistical methods used: to compare the prevalence of thinness using the ...
… Journal of Pediatric …, 2006
Background . There are few data on overweight in children in developing countries. Such data are important to guide public health policy. We assessed trends in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children from the Seychelles, a middleincome island state in the Indian Ocean. Methods . Multiple cross-sectional surveys were conducted each year between 1998 and 2004 on all students of all schools in four selected school grades (crèche, 4th, 7th and 10th years of mandatory school). Weight and height were measured and children were asked about walking time and frequency of physical exercise at leisure time. Excess weight categories were defined according to the criteria of the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Results. Data were available for 33 340 observations in 1998 Á 2004, corresponding to 23 459 individual children measured once or several times. Based on IOTF criteria, the prevalence of 'overweight' or 'obesity' increased from 8.7% to 13.5% in boys, and from 11.8% to 18.6% in girls from 1998 to 2004 (PB/0.001). The prevalence of 'obesity' increased from 2.1% to 5.2% in boys and from 3.1% to 6.2% in girls (PB/0.001). Using CDC criteria, the prevalence of 'at risk of overweight' and 'overweight' increased by similar proportions. The shift towards higher values over time was larger in the upper than the lower tail of the BMI distribution. Physical activity decreased over calendar years and was inversely associated with excess weight. Conclusions . The prevalence of excess weight increased markedly over a seven-year period in children in the Seychelles. This is likely to reflect a rapid nutrition transition with increasingly positive energy balance. These findings stress the need for programs and policies aimed at promoting physical activity and healthy nutrition in countries in epidemiological transition.
Body mass index cut offs to define thinness in children and adolescents: international survey
2007
Body mass index cut offs to define thinness in children and adolescents: international survey Tim J Cole, professor of medical statistics, 1 Katherine M Flegal, senior research scientist, 2 Dasha Nicholls, consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, 3 Alan A Jackson, professor of human nutrition 4 ABSTRACT Objective To determine cut offs to define thinness in children and adolescents, based on body mass index at age 18 years. Design International survey of six large nationally representative cross sectional studies on growth. Setting Brazil, Great Britain, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Singapore, and the United States. Subjects 97 876 males and 94 851 females from birth to 25 years. Main outcome measure Body mass index (BMI, weight/ height 2). Results The World Health Organization defines grade 2 thinness in adults as BMI <17. This same cut off, applied to the six datasets at age 18 years, gave mean BMI close to a z score of −2 and 80% of the median. Thus it matches existing criteria for wasting in children based on weight for height. For each dataset, centile curves were drawn to pass through the cut off of BMI 17 at 18 years. The resulting curves were averaged to provide age and sex specific cutoff points from 2-18 years. Similar cut offs were derived based on BMI 16 and 18.5 at 18 years, together providing definitions of thinness grades 1, 2, and 3 in children and adolescents consistent with the WHO adult definitions. Conclusions The proposed cutoff points should help to provide internationally comparable prevalence rates of thinness in children and adolescents.
This study aims to evaluate the nutritional status of adolescents attending two secondary schools in Gagnoa (Côte d'Ivoire) based on anthropometric parameters. A sample of 184 adolescents was recruited in the secondary schools 1 and 2 of Gagnoa. Measurements of body mass and height were made using a scale and a measuring board equipped with a tape measure respectively. Anthropometric indices (height-forage Z-score and BMI-forage Z-score) were calculated according to the WHO (2007) growth references for 5-19 years old children. Mean age was 14.9 ± 0.2 years, mean body weight was 48.2 ± 0.7 kg and mean height was 156.1 ± 0.7 cm. The results of this study revealed a deficit of 13% and an underweight of 8.7%. Undernutrition in the population is characterized by 1.6% severe chronic undernutrition, 11.4% moderate chronic undernutrition, 8.7% moderate acute malnutrition and 0.5% severe acute malnutrition. The prevalence of obesity in this population was 0.5%. The assessment of the nutritional status of the adolescents attending the two secondary schools of Gagnoa has revealed deficiency stature and thinness among students.
International journal of …, 2002
OBJECTIVES: To establish the prevalence of overweight and obesity and related risk factors in children from Seychelles (Indian Ocean), a country in rapid economic and epidemiological transition. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study with retrospective access to early life data. SUBJECTS: All children from all schools of Seychelles, in four selected school grades (kindergarten, fourth, seventh and tenth year of obligatory school) in 1999. A total of 5514 children aged 4.5 -17.4 y were measured, corresponding to 83.5% of the eligible population. MEASUREMENTS: Overweight and obesity, using age-and sex-specific body mass index (BMI) cut-off points as defined by the International Obesity Task Force. RESULTS: Some 12.6% (95% confidence interval: 11.8 -13.5%) of the children were overweight and 3.8% (3.3 -4.4%) were obese. Weight gain (kg) during the first year of life was strongly associated with subsequent overweight (odds ratio 1.46, 95% confidence interval 1.27 -1.67) and obesity (1.59, 1.29 -1.97) in childhood, independently of birth weight. Increased maternal BMI (kg=m 2 ) was also associated with overweight (1.07, 1.03 -1.10) and obesity (1.09, 1.04 -1.14) in the offspring. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of overweight and obesity among school children in Seychelles was as high as or higher than in some industrialized countries. If confirmed in other environments, the strong association between weight gain during the first year of life and subsequent obesity in childhood could affect the way optimal infant weight gain is defined in countries where public health priorities are changing.
Prevalence of Thinness among the Kolam Pre-School Children
To assess the prevalence of thinness among 2-5 years preschool children, a cross-sectional study was conducted among 284 preschool children (Boys-144; Girls-140) of Kolam tribe. Kolam, a primitive tribal group predominantly lives in Utnoor, Narnoor and Jainoor mandal (s) of Adilabad district, Telangana, India. Anthropometric measurements like height and weight were used to compute body mass index following standard techniques. The new international classification cutoff points provided for boys and girls aged 2 years to 5 years were used to identify the prevalence of under nutrition. It was observed that the participants of both the sexes showed a marked difference in body weight. The overall prevalence of thinness was 72.91% for Kolam boys and 72.14% for Kolam girls indicating that children of both the sexes were undernourished.
Stunting and thinness in school-attending adolescents in Addis Ababa
BMC Nutrition
Background Adolescent population Global Diet Quality Score (GDQS) is uncommon in low-income settings. Though Global Diet Quality Score is a good measure of dietary diversity, it has not been used in assessing nutritional outcomes among adolescents. Therefore, the aim of this study is to assess school-attending adolescents stunting and thinness status and associations with global diet quality scores in Addis Ababa. Methods A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted among school-attending adolescents in the age group of 10–14 years in urban settings in Ethiopia. A multi-stage stratified random sampling procedure was used to select schools and students. A total of 1200 adolescents were included in the study. Binary and Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to determine the predictors of stunting and thinness respectively. Results The proportion of school-attending adolescents stunting was 8.17% (95% CI: 6.74%,9.85%) and their thinness status 12.66% (95% CI: 10.89%,...
BMC Public Health, 2014
Background: The burden caused by the coexistence of obesity and underweight in Low and Middle Income Countries is a challenge to public health. While prevalence of underweight among youth has been well documented in these countries, overweight, obesity and their associated risk factors are not well understood unlike in high income countries. Methods: Cross-sectional data from the Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) conducted in seven African countries were used for this study. The survey used a clustered design to obtain a representative sample (n = 23496) from randomly selected schools. 53.6% of the sample was male, and participants ranged in age from 11-17 years old. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated using age and sex adjusted self-reported heights and weights. Classification of weight status was based on the 2007 World Health Organization growth charts (BMI-for-age and sex). Multivariable Logistic Regression reporting Odds Ratios was used to assess potential risk factors on BMI, adjusting for age, sex, and country. Statistical analyses were performed with Stata with an alpha of 0.05 and reporting 95% confidence intervals. Results: Unadjusted rates of being underweight varied from 12.6% (Egypt) to 31.9% (Djibouti), while being overweight ranged from 8.7% (Ghana) to 31.4% (Egypt). Obesity rates ranged from 0.6% (Benin) to 9.3% (Egypt). Females had a higher overweight prevalence for every age group in five of the countries, exceptions being Egypt and Malawi. Overall, being overweight was more prevalent among younger (≤12) adolescents and decreased with age. Males had a higher prevalence of being underweight than females for every country. There was a tendency for the prevalence of being underweight to increase starting in the early teens and decrease between ages 15 and 16. Most of the potential risk factors captured by the GSHS were not significantly associated with weight status. Conclusions: The prevalence of both overweight and underweight was relatively high, demonstrating the existence of the double burden of malnutrition among adolescents in developing countries. Several factors were not associated with weight status suggesting the need to explore other potential risk factors for overweight and underweight, including genetic factors and socioeconomic status.
Annals of Human Biology, 2017
Background: The last study to establish centiles of main anthropometric measurements in Kinshasa was conducted over 60 years ago, which questions its current adequacy to describe or monitor growth in this population. Aim: To assess the nutritional status of school-aged children and adolescents and to estimate centile curves of height, weight and body mass index (BMI). Subjects and methods: A representative sample of 7541 school-aged children and adolescents (48% boys) aged 6-18 years was measured between 2010-2013. Smooth centiles of height, weight and BMI-forage were estimated with the LMS method and compared with the WHO2007 reference. Nutritional status was assessed by comparing measurements of height and BMI against the appropriate WHO cutoffs. Results: Compared to the WHO reference, percentiles of height and BMI were generally lower. This difference was larger in boys than in girls and increased as they approached adolescence. The prevalence of short stature (<-2 SD) and thinness (<-2SD) was higher in boys (9.8% and 12%) than in girls (3.4% and 6.1%), but the prevalence of overweight (> 1 SD) was higher in girls (8.6%) than in boys (4.5%). Conclusion: Children from Kinshasa fall below WHO centile references. We established up-to-date centile curves for height, weight and BMI by age in children and adolescents. These reference curves describe the current status of these anthropometric markers and can be used as a basis for comparison in future studies.