Burden of nutritional deficiencies of children under 5 years old in China, 1990-2015

Abstract

To quantify and describe the distribution and trends of burden of nutritional deficiencies among children under 5 years old in China from 1990 to 2015. Subnational data of China on children under 5 years old in 33 provinces and autonomous regions, which including 31 mainland regions, Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, were extracted from the result of Global Burden of Disease Study 2015(GBD 2015). Based on the method of descriptive epidemiology, we analyzed the prevalence, mortality as well as disability adjusted life year(DALY) rate of nutritional deficiencies among children under 5 years old by sex, time and locations in China, as well as its temporal trend since 1990. In 2015, the prevalence of nutritional deficiencies among children under 5 years old was 17. 26%, and the DALY rate was 776. 26 person-years per 100000. Compared to 1990, the DALY rate of nutritional deficiencies declined by 71. 42%. The DALY rate of nutritional deficiencies decreased in the past 25 years in Eastern, Central and Western China. Meanwhile, the gap in disease burden between boys and girls declined. Among diseases caused by nutritional deficiencies, burden of protein-energy malnutrition and iron deficiency anemia among children under 5 years old were relatively higher. Compared to 1990, the DALY rate of iron deficiency anemia among children under 5 years old declined by 15. 68%, which was lower than other nutritional deficiencies among children in 2015. From 1990 to 2015, the disease burden caused by nutritional deficiencies among Chinese children under 5 years old showed downtrend. There were still differences of disease burden distributions between regions and common nutritional deficiencies.