Abstract
The prevalence of stunting, wasting, overweight and their coexistence are various in different populations and they also have changed with social developing and environmental improving. In this paper, we aimed to analyze the prevalence of stunting, wasting, overweight and their coexistence in some developed regions of China. Data were collected in a population-based cross-sectional survey by a multi-stage cluster sampling method in nine cities located in the northern, central, and southern region of China in 2016. Children under seven years (n = 110,491) were measured. WHO growth standards were used to assess the growth status. Stunting, underweight, wasting, overweight and obesity were considered as the primary forms of malnutrition (includes undernutrition and overnutrition) for infant or young children at population-levels. The prevalence of stunting, underweight, wasting, and overweight or obesity were respectively 0.7%, 0.6%, 1.2%, and 7.6%. Most of these children (95.4%) suffered from one form of malnutrition, and only 0.2% of them concurrently stunted and wasted, 0.4% concurrently stunted and overweight, 1.7% concurrently stunted and underweight, 2.3% concurrently underweight and wasted. Among stunted children, 91.2% were appropriate body proportion, and only 2.3% were wasted, 6.5% were overweight or obesity. Among overweight or obese children, only 0.6% were stunted, whereas, 15.8% were high stature and 83.6% were the appropriate ranges of stature. Sex, age, urban/suburban, and region were associated with these primary forms of malnutrition in the multivariate logistic analysis. In conclusion, we found that the coexistence of stunting and overweight was not common at both population-level and individual-level. The situation for undernutrition had significantly improved, and overweight may be the leading public health issue for children under seven years in the nine cities of China.
Highlights
Underweight, wasting, overweight and obesity are considered as the primary forms of malnutrition in early childhood, and they present high epidemic trends and continue to pose significant public health concerns [1]
Infant and young children and preschool children malnutrition remains a fundamental challenge in improving human development, reduction of stunting prevalence and no increase in childhood overweight were considered as the most crucial goal of the Global nutrition targets for 2025 [5]
The 2018 Global Nutrition Report has illustrated that the burden of malnutrition was diverse in different regions worldwide: overweight and obesity are the primary forms of malnutrition in some developed countries; wasting, underweight or stunting are most prevalent in low and lower-middle-income countries [6]; while many of those rapidly developing countries were said to suffer double burden of malnutrition at population level, which is characterized by the relative high prevalence of stunting along with relative high prevalence of overweight and obesity in populations [7]
Summary
Underweight, wasting, overweight and obesity are considered as the primary forms of malnutrition in early childhood, and they present high epidemic trends and continue to pose significant public health concerns [1]. Malnutrition of young children has adverse health and development consequences for the affected during childhood, posed long-term health risks during adulthood [2, 3], and brings serious diseases and economic burden to families and society. Infant and young children and preschool children malnutrition remains a fundamental challenge in improving human development, reduction of stunting prevalence and no increase in childhood overweight were considered as the most crucial goal of the Global nutrition targets for 2025 [5]. It is critical to collect more data about the wasting, stunting, underweight, overweight and their coexistence in a given place and a given time in order to know about progress to prevention for children malnutrition, make effective policies suitable for a specific region and time, and control their global epidemic
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