Nutritional status of children aged 2-18 years old: a single-center study in China

Abstract

\n Background:To assess the nutritional status and associated factors of abnormal nutritional status(malnutrition, overweight and obesity) among children aged 2 to 18 years old in Southwestern China.Methods:Children attending routine health checkups at the Children s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University between April 2017 and March 2020 were enrolled in this study. Nutritional status was defined based on BMI cut-off values, and statistically analyzed based on gender, region, and age. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the risk factors for abnormal nutritional status.Results:The overall prevalence of malnutrition, overweight and obesity was 5.87% ,9.81% and 10.50%, respectively. The prevalence of obesity and malnutrition in boys was higher than that in girls (P<0.01), while the prevalence of overweight is reversed (P<0.05). The prevalence of overweight among boys in urban regions was higher than in rural regions (P<0.05). Boys had the highest prevalence of obesity (P<0.01), girls had the lowest prevalence of malnutrition (P<0.05) in the 13-18 year-old group.The aOR for obesity and malnutrition in girls was 0.80 (95% CI: 0.73–0.87) and 0.80 (95% CI: 0.71–0.90), respectively. Compared to adolescents in the 13-18 year-old group,the aOR for obesity in children in the 2-6 year-old group, for malnutrition in children in the 7-12 year-old group was 0.55 (95% CI: 0.46–0.67)and 1.70 (95% CI: 1.25–2.33),respectively.Conclusions: The nutritional status of children and adolescents in Southwest China is comparable to that at the national level. The prevalence of obesity and malnutrition is shown to be associated with gender, and age.