Prevalence and determinants of stunting and overweight in 3-year-old black South African children residing in the Central Region of Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of stunting, wasting and overweight and their determinants in 3-year-old children in the Central Region of Limpopo Province, South Africa. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Rural villages in the Central Region of the Limpopo Province, South Africa. Subjects: One hundred and sixty-two children who were followed from birth were included in the study. Anthropometric measurements and sociodemographic characteristics of the children were recorded. Results: Height-for-age Z-scores were low, with a high prevalence of stunting (48%). The children also exhibited a high prevalence of overweight (22%) and obesity (24%). Thirty-one (19%) children were both stunted and overweight. Gaining more weight within the first year of life increased the risk of being overweight at 3 years by 2.39 times (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.96-4.18) while having a greater length at 1 year was protective against stunting (odds ratio (OR) 0.41; 95% CI 0.17-0.97). Having a mother as a student increased the risk for stunting at 3 years by 18.21 times (95% CI 9.46 -34.74) while having a working mother increased the risk for overweight by 17.87 times (95% CI 8.24 -38.78). All these factors also appeared as risks or as being protective in children who were both overweight and stunted, as did living in a household having nine or more persons (OR 5.72;. Conclusion: The results of this study highlight the importance of evaluating anthropometric status in terms of both stunting and overweight. Furthermore, it is important to realise the importance of normal length and weight being attained at 1 year of age, since these in turn predict nutritional status at 3 years of age.

Determinants of body mass index by gender in the Dikgale Health and Demographic Surveillance System site, South Africa

“…A recent Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study has shown that poor health outcomes are significantly associated with a high CHO intake. Also, the level of stunting is high (48%) [22]. The high level of CHO intake could be linked to food insecurity in a low SES setting, thus greater reliance on cheap, refined foodstuffs (SSB, white bread, mealie-meal, sugar).…”

“…Earlier studies from the DHDSS site were fragmented and considered only diet or physical activity (PA) [15,21,22], while this study considers the relationship of socio-demographic, lifestyle and biological factors with BMI through a sex-specific, hierarchical multiple linear regression modelling approach. Consequently, this study provides baseline DHDSS site cohort data for Phase 2 of the Africa Wits-INDEPTH (International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health) partnership for Genomic (AWI-Gen) Study.…”

Estimation of human body concentrations of DDT from indoor residual spraying for malaria control

“…Body mass for rural areas in South Africa have been reported in various nutritional studies (Cameron and Kgamphe, 1993;Mamabolo et al, 2004Mamabolo et al, , 2005Monyeki et al, 2000;Mostert et al, 2005;Nel and Steyn, 2002;Steyn et al, 1992). For the PK model, we linearly interpolated the data to obtain a growth curve for a woman (see Supplemental Material, Figure S1).…”

Maternal and early life nutrition and physical activity: setting the research and intervention agenda for addressing the double burden of malnutrition in South African children

“…In the first five years of life, the double burden of under- and over-nutrition in South Africa is evident [31,32]. In 2013, 22.9% of 2–5-year-old children were reported to be overweight or obese, and the prevalence of stunting was 21.5%.…”

“…However in children 0–3 years, the prevalences of stunting were as high as 26.9% for boys and 25.9% for girls [33]. An earlier study showed that the co-prevalence of stunting and overweight in 3-year-old children was 19% [32]. Research in LMICs suggests that stunted children have impaired lipid metabolism favouring the accumulation of adipose tissue, and that in the context of high energy intake and low energy expenditure, undernourished children could be at risk for developing overweight/obesity [34–36].…”