Table 2 Prevalence of overweight, obesity, underweight, wasting or thinness, and stunting by gender and age group.

From: Overweight & obesity epidemic, temporal trends and regional disparities in physical growth of Vietnamese children

 

Males 18 months to 5 years old

(N visits = 24472)

Females 18 months to 5 years old

(N visits = 21360)

Males 5 years to 18 years old

(N visits = 80826)

Females 5 years to 18 years old

(N visits = 75505)

Prevalence % (95%CI)

Prevalence % (95%CI)

Prevalence % (95%CI)

Prevalence % (95%CI)

Overweight

5.8 (5.4, 6.2)

3.9 (3.6, 4.2)

24.8 (24.4, 25.1)

19.6 (19.3, 19.9)

Obesity

3.2 (2.8, 3.5)

1.2 (0.9, 1.5)

22.9 (22.5, 23.3)

6.7 (6.4, 7.1)

Overweight & Obesity combined

9.0 (8.6, 9.3)

5.1 (4.8, 5.4)

47.7 (47.3, 48.0)

26.3 (26.0, 26.7)

Wasting (< 5 years old) or Thinness (5 years to 18 years old)

1.4 (1.0, 1.8)

1.3 (1.0, 1.6)

2.5 (2.1, 2.8)

3.3 (3.0, 3.6)

Underweight

1.6 (0.9, 2.1)

1.7 (1.0, 2.2)

1.2 (0.7, 1.7)

1.9 (1.2, 2.2)

Stunting

3.2 (3.2, 3.2)

2.8 (2.8, 2.8)

0.7 (0.7, 0.7)

1.0 (1.0, 1.0)

  1. Overweight, obesity, wasting, underweight, and stunting were classified according to World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation17,18. For children from 18 months to 5 years of age, overweight was weight-for-height > + 2 SD above WHO Child Growth Standards median, obesity was weight-for-height > + 3 SD above the WHO Child Growth Standards median, stunting was height-for-age < -2 SD of the WHO Child growth standards median, wasting was weight-for-height < -2 SD of the WHO Child growth standards median and underweight was weight-for-age < -2 standard deviations (SD) of the WHO Child growth standards median. For children aged between 5 and 18 years, overweight was BMI-for-age > + 1 SD above the WHO Growth Reference median, obesity was > + 2 SD above the WHO Growth Reference median. A BMI > + 3 SD above the WHO Child Growth Standards median was referred to as severe obesity. Moderate stunting was height-for-age < -2 SD and severe stunting was < -3 SD of the WHO Child growth standards median. Moderate underweight was weight-for-age < -2 SD and severe underweight was weight-for-age < -3 SD of the WHO Child growth standards median. Moderate thinness was BMI-for-age < -2 SD and severe thinness was BMI-for-age < -3 SD of the WHO Child growth standards median.
  2. WHO prevalence cut-off values for public health significance: (a) For thinness, underweight, overweight & obesity: <2.5% = very low, 2.5 to < 5% = low, 5 to < 10% = medium, 10 to < 15% = high, ≥ 15% = very high; (b) For stunting: <2.5% = very low, 2.5 to < 10% = low, 10 to < 20% = medium, 20 to < 30% = high, ≥ 30% = very high.
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