Anthropometric profiles of 8\u201311\u2009year old children from a low-income setting in South Africa

Sandra S Pretorius,Natalia Neophytou,Estelle D Watson

doi:10.1186/s12889-019-6530-x

Sandra S Pretorius, Natalia Neophytou + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-6530-x

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Abstract

BackgroundCommunities in low-to-middle income countries undergoing rapid urbanisation as well as nutrition transition are particularly at risk for associated health issues such as overweight and obesity. South Africa has a double-burden of both under- and over-nutrition, creating some uncertainty as to where to direct healthcare interventions. Therefore, providing anthropometric data in vulnerable populations, such as in early childhood, is much needed.MethodsThis observational study assessed height, weight, head circumference and age-adjusted BMI in 1785 Grade 4 (9.5 ± 0.7 years old) learners from 12 schools in two different areas in South Africa.ResultsOverall, the results of this study found a higher prevalence of overnutrition (>95th percentile for age-adjusted BMI) than undernutrition (<15th percentile for age-adjusted BMI), 27.3% versus 12.4% respectively. Although the boys were significantly older and taller than the girls in this sample, there were no significant sex differences between boys and girls for BMI (19.9 kg/m2 ± 6.0 vs 20 kg/m2 ± 5.8, p = 0.59). Significant differences were found between peri-urban and urban areas for undernutrition (16.1% versus 9.5%, p < 0.001) and overnutrition (9.7% versus 41.2%, p < 0.001).ConclusionSouth African children living in urban areas are particularly vulnerable to high rates of overweight and obesity. Therefore, interventions that are area and context specific are needed to address the issues of malnutrition in South Africa.

Highlights

Communities in low-to-middle income countries undergoing rapid urbanisation as well as nutrition transition are at risk for associated health issues such as overweight and obesity
The findings from this study suggest that within South Africa different geographical areas are at different stages of the nutrition transition continuum, and this might be influenced by socio-demographic factors and economic development
Contrary to other South African data, our study showed little difference between boys and girls, these difference may become more apparent with the onset of adolescence

Summary

Introduction

Communities in low-to-middle income countries undergoing rapid urbanisation as well as nutrition transition are at risk for associated health issues such as overweight and obesity. In South Africa, this is true, yet it has been found that over-nutrition is generally the dominant malnutrition pattern, as well as the fact that different demographic areas are affected differently by overweight and obesity [2, 3]. Contributing to this is urbanization, improved socioeconomic status (SES) and a more sedentary lifestyle [3]. Since urbanization is on the increase among the African population [2], obesity rates will likely continue to increase in the future, which is of great concern

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