Abstract
BackgroundOverweight and underweight increase the risk of metabolic impairments and chronic disease. Interventions at the household level require the diagnosis of nutritional status among family members. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence and patterns of various anthropometric typologies over a decade in Colombia using a novel approach that considers all children in the household as well as the mother. This approach also allows identifying a dual burden of malnutrition within a household, where one child may be overweight and another one undernourished.MethodsThis study used data from the Demographic and Health Survey and the Colombian National Nutrition Survey [2000 n = 2,876, 2005 n = 8,598, and 2010 n = 11,349].Four mutually exclusive household (HH) anthropometric typologies - normal, undernourished, overweight/obese, and dual burden - were created. Anthropometric information of height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) and body-mass-index-for-age Z-scores (BMIz) in children under the age of 5 y, and on body mass index (BMI) in mothers, 18–49 y was used.ResultsPrevalence of overweight/obese HHs increased between 2000 (38.2%) and 2010 (43.1%) (p < 0.05), while undernourished and dual burden HHs significantly decreased between 2005 (13.7% and 10.6%, respectively) and 2010 (3.5% and 5.1%, respectively) (p < 0.05). A greater increase of overweight/obesity was observed for the lowest quintile of wealth index (WI), with an increase of almost 10% between 2000 and 2010, compared to 2% and 4% for the fourth and highest WI, respectively. Although in 2010 there is still a higher prevalence of overweight/obesity HHs in urban areas (43.7%), the prevalence of overweight/obesity HHs in rural areas increased sharply between 2000 (34.3%) and 2010 (41.6%) (p < 0.05).ConclusionThe observed prevalence of dual burden households was not different from the expected prevalence. Results from this study indicate that although overweight/obesity continues to be more prevalent among high-income Colombian households, it is growing at a faster pace among the most economically disadvantaged.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13690-014-0057-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Overweight and underweight increase the risk of metabolic impairments and chronic disease
Prevalence and patterns of household anthropometric typologies The percentage of homes classified within the overweight/obese typology increased significantly from 2000 (38.2%, 95% C.I.: 36.2%-40.1%) to 2010 (43.1%, 95% C.I.: 41.9%-44.3%) (p-value
Colombia is in the midst of a nutrition transition that is mirroring the changes occurring elsewhere in the world, such as an increase in the overweight/obese population and a general decrease in its chronically undernourished population
Summary
Overweight and underweight increase the risk of metabolic impairments and chronic disease. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence and patterns of various anthropometric typologies over a decade in Colombia using a novel approach that considers all children in the household as well as the mother This approach allows identifying a dual burden of malnutrition within a household, where one child may be overweight and another one undernourished. Low birth weight and childhood undernutrition increase the risk of developing obesity and co-morbidities in later life including metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease [4,5]. These risks are exacerbated by exposure to the increasingly prevalent obesogenic environment of countries undergoing rapid nutrition transition [6]. Colombia is experiencing a nutrition transition and has seen a steady increase in the average body mass index (BMI) of its population throughout the years; while at the same time childhood chronic undernutrition still persists, in both urban and rural areas [7]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
