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Relationships between undernutrition prevalence among children and adult women at national and subnational level

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 59, pages 1112–1120 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Objectives:

The objective of this study is to analyze the relationships between undernutrition prevalence rates among children and adults, both at the level of countries and at the level of smaller geographical subunits within countries (districts, provinces). Results are considered of relevance for evaluation and proper usage of anthropometric information in poverty and food security assessment.

Design:

Anthropometric information on both children and adults, as reported in the Demographic and Health Surveys, has been the primary source of data. In addition, data published by WHO, FAO, and data from some country specific reports have been used. The final analysis is based on data from 289 subnational geographical units divided over 56 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Ordinary least squares has been used for regression analysis and F-tests for testing differences of variances.

Results:

At the level of countries, results reveal a strong positive relationship between undernutrition prevalence rates among children and adults. At the level of smaller geographical units, high levels of undernutrition in adult women are almost invariably associated with high levels of undernutrition in children. At the same time, however, low or intermediate levels of undernutrition among adult women are no guarantee that undernutrition levels among children are also low or moderate.

Conclusion:

At the level of countries, information on undernutrition prevalence in children can be considered a proximate of the overall nutritional and food security conditions in a country. At the level of smaller geographical units, relationships are less straightforward, and are hypothesized to depend, at least partially, on the relative importance of food and nonfood factors in the causation of undernutrition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for World Food Studies (SOW-VU), Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    M Nubé

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Correspondence to M Nubé.

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Guarantor: M Nubé.

Contributors: MN is nutritionist and responsible for study design, analysis and manuscript writing.

Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition website (http://www.nature.com/ejcn)

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Nubé, M. Relationships between undernutrition prevalence among children and adult women at national and subnational level. Eur J Clin Nutr 59, 1112–1120 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602220

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