Nutritional Status of Nigerian Children from Urban Community Using Different Reference Cut-offs

Few studies have used the 2007 WHO and International Obesity Task Force (IOTF)/International Survey (IS) references to assess nutritional status of Nigeria children. This study was undertaken to assess nutritional status of children from an urban community using the three reference cut-offs. This survey involved 1903 children, aged 1-10 years, recruited randomly from crèche, nursery and primary schools in Lagos, Nigeria. The estimation of the prevalence of thinness, overweight and obesity was based on age and sex-specific BMI cut-offs by 2007 WHO and IS/IOTF references. Thinness, stunting and underweight were defined as BMI-for-age, height-for-age and weight-for-age (Z-score), below 2SD (3SD for severe) from the relative median value of the 2007 WHO cut-offs, respectively. Boys (girls) had 75.6 % (74.4%) prevalence of stunting which increases with age and 1.4% (0.9%) severe stunting. 5% and 1.2% of children were underweight and severe underweight respectively. By IOTF/ IS cut-offs, 42.9%, 2.6% and 1.2% of children were thin, overweight and obese respectively. Using 2007 WHO cut-offs, 43.2%, 4.1% and 3.6% of children were thin, overweight and obese respectively. Obesity prevalence was high in ages 1-4 years in boys and girls. In ages 1-4 years, the 2007 WHO overestimated, while IOTF underestimated obesity prevalence. The prevalence of thinness and overweight compared fairly well in all cut-offs. This study suggests a high prevalence of malnutrition with emerging increase in overweight/obesity among urban children.