Objective: To assess the prevalence of overweight, obesity and underweight among Vietnamese adults living in urban areas of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam. Design: This cross-sectional survey was conducted in the local health stations of 30 randomly selected wards, which represent all 13 urban districts of HCMC, over a period of 2 months from March to April 2004. Subjects: A total of 1488 participants aged 20-60 years completed the interview, physical examination and venous blood collection. Measurements: Anthropometric measurements of body weight, height, waist and hip circumference were taken to construct indicators of adiposity including body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and waist-to-height and waist-to-hip ratios. Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure and biochemical indicators of cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes risk (lipid profile and fasting blood glucose) were also measured. Results: The age and sex standardized prevalence of overweight and obesity using Asian specific BMI cutoffs of 23.0 and 27.5 kg/m 2 was 26.2 and 6.4%, respectively. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was slightly higher in females (33.6%) than males (31.6%), and progressively increased with age. The age and sex-standardized prevalence of underweight (BMI o18.5 kg/m 2 ) among Vietnamese adults living in HCMC was 20.4%. The prevalence was slightly higher in males (22.0%) than in females (18.9%), and there was a much higher prevalence in all underweight categories in younger women than in men but this was reversed for older men. Conclusion: The adult population in HCMC Vietnam is in an early 'nutrition transition' with approximately equal prevalence of low and high BMI. The prevalence of overweight and obesity of Vietnamese urban adults was lower than that reported for other east and southeast Asian countries.
The prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents in Ho Chi Minh City is increasing rapidly. There is an urgent need to implement strategies for prevention and control amongst the adolescents of Ho Chi Minh City and other urban areas in Vietnam.
This food frequency questionnaire measured the usual intake of major nutrients for Vietnamese adults living in Ho Chi Minh City and its urban area, where dietary patterns are similar to those of the Vietnamese population.
Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of a school nutrition programme on the weight gain and growth of Vietnamese schoolchildren. Design: A proximate cluster evaluation of children in seven schools, in which fortified milk and biscuits supplying 300 kcal of energy were being given on school days, compared with children in 14 nearby schools with no feeding. All children were dewormed. Setting: Twenty-one primary schools in Dong Thap Province, Vietnam. Subjects: A cohort of 1080 children in grade 1 of 21 primary schools, and a crosssectional interview of 400 children in grade 3. Results: The programme gave children the equivalent of 90 kcal day 21 over 17 months. t-Tests showed a small but statistically significant difference between groups in their average gain in weight and height: 3.19 versus 2.95 kg (P , 0.001) and 8.15 versus 7.88 cm (P ¼ 0.008). A multiple-level model showed that the programme was statistically significant after controlling for clustering of children in schools, sex, age and initial underweight (P ¼ 0.024). A significant impact on height was also seen in a regression model, but not when controlling for school. The most undernourished children tended to gain the least weight. There was no evidence of substitution. Conclusion: The programme had a small but significant effect on weight gain, but the most undernourished children benefited the least. Methods need to be developed to target them. This design may offer a means of estimating the impact of school feeding on growth in other programme settings.
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