PMID- 31046727 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20190715 LR - 20220129 IS - 1471-2458 (Electronic) IS - 1471-2458 (Linking) VI - 19 IP - 1 DP - 2019 May 2 TI - The prevalence of malnutrition and growth percentiles for urban South African children. PG - 492 LID - 10.1186/s12889-019-6794-1 [doi] LID - 492 AB - BACKGROUND: Low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) are experiencing a double-burden of malnutrition characterised by high prevalence of both under- and over-nutrition. We set out using data from the mixed-longitudinal Birth-to-Twenty Plus (Bt20+) birth cohort, to evaluate the patterns of malnutrition and growth in a large South African (SA) city by; (i) assessing the prevalence of undernutrition from birth to 5 years of age and overweight and obesity from ages 2 to 21 years in black and white, male and female children, and (ii) determining percentiles for height, weight, BMI, waist and hip circumferences and comparing the centiles to American and Dutch references. METHODS: Height, weight, waist and hip circumferences were measured on urban black and white SA children from the Bt20+. A total of 3273 children born between April and June 1990 in the Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan area were included in the cohort. Z-scores were derived using the WHO 2006 child growth standards (0-5 years), for defining stunting, underweight and wasting. The International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) references were used to define overweight and obesity. Percentiles were developed using the lambda mu sigma (LMS) method and compared to American and Dutch references. RESULTS: Black children were consistently shorter and black males lighter than white children and American references. The prevalence of stunting peaked at 2 years and was significantly higher in males than females and in black than white children. Black females had a greater prevalence of overweight and obesity than black males from 10 to 17 years. The percentiles for black females for weight and BMI were similar to those of South African white and American references but both black and white South African females had lower waist circumferences than American references. CONCLUSION: The growth percentiles show that young South African urban black females are experiencing general but not central obesity due to a secular change which is faster in weight than height. High levels of undernutrition persist alongside high levels of over-nutrition with adolescence being a critical period for the upsurge in obesity in females. Early intervention is needed to combat the rise in obesity. FAU - Nyati, Lukhanyo H AU - Nyati LH AUID- ORCID: 0000-0003-0975-344X AD - MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 7 York Rd, Parktown, Johannesburg, 2193, South Africa. lukhanyo.nyati@gmail.com. FAU - Pettifor, John M AU - Pettifor JM AD - MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 7 York Rd, Parktown, Johannesburg, 2193, South Africa. FAU - Norris, Shane A AU - Norris SA AD - MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 7 York Rd, Parktown, Johannesburg, 2193, South Africa. LA - eng GR - WT_/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom GR - MR/P021174/1/MRC_/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom PT - Journal Article DEP - 20190502 PL - England TA - BMC Public Health JT - BMC public health JID - 100968562 SB - IM MH - Adolescent MH - Body Weight MH - Child MH - Child, Preschool MH - Cohort Studies MH - Female MH - Growth Disorders/*epidemiology MH - Humans MH - Male MH - Malnutrition/epidemiology MH - Metabolic Diseases/*epidemiology MH - *Nutritional Status MH - Obesity/*epidemiology MH - Prevalence MH - Risk Factors MH - South Africa/epidemiology MH - Thinness/epidemiology MH - Urban Population/*statistics & numerical data MH - Young Adult PMC - PMC6498578 OTO - NOTNLM OT - Growth references OT - Overweight & obesity OT - South Africa OT - Stunting OT - Wasting COIS- ETHICS APPROVAL AND CONSENT TO PARTICIPATE: This study was conducted according to the guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki and all procedures involving human subjects were approved by the University of the Witwatersrand Committee for Research on Human Subjects. Written informed accent and consent were obtained from all subjects and their parents. CONSENT FOR PUBLICATION: Not applicable. COMPETING INTERESTS: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. EDAT- 2019/05/03 06:00 MHDA- 2019/07/16 06:00 PMCR- 2019/05/02 CRDT- 2019/05/04 06:00 PHST- 2018/08/01 00:00 [received] PHST- 2019/04/09 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2019/05/04 06:00 [entrez] PHST- 2019/05/03 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2019/07/16 06:00 [medline] PHST- 2019/05/02 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - 10.1186/s12889-019-6794-1 [pii] AID - 6794 [pii] AID - 10.1186/s12889-019-6794-1 [doi] PST - epublish SO - BMC Public Health. 2019 May 2;19(1):492. doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-6794-1.