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Body composition, energy expenditure and physical activity

Intrauterine growth restriction and overweight, obesity, and stunting in adolescents of indigenous communities of Chiapas, Mexico

Abstract

Background/objectives

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and low-birth-weight (LBW) are determinant factors in the development of metabolic diseases in children and adolescents. To estimate the magnitude of the association between LBW and IUGR with stunting or obesity among adolescents of two indigenous regions of the southern State of Chiapas, Mexico.

Subjects/methods

We assessed a random sample of 303 adolescents selected from a birth cohort study (2003) conducted in three hospitals serving urban and rural communities of Tzotzil-Tzeltal and Selva regions of Chiapas, Mexico. Sociodemographic and anthropometric data from a sample of adolescents were correlated with their anthropometric data at birth (weight, length for age). Logistic regression models were fitted to estimate odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals to measure the magnitude of the association among the variables of interest. Models were adjusted for potential confounders.

Results

In all, 12% of the sample had LBW and 28.8% IUGR. In total, 29% of adolescents were overweight/obese and 21% were stunted. We found a statistically significant association between IUGR and a lower risk of being overweight/obese. A higher probability for stunting was observed for LBW and IUGR.

Conclusions

Stunting and overweight/obesity prevalence in this population of adolescents was high and was associated with IUGR.

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Fig. 1

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the families who participated in this study. Fieldwork activities were achieved thanks to the contribution of nutritional students from Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de Chiapas and medical students from Universidad del Sureste and Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Chiapas.

Funding

This study was supported by CONACYT. EFG received a PhD scholarship from PRODEP. IC-Q received a postdoctoral scholarship from CONACYT.

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Authors

Contributions

HODL conceived and directed the project. EFG, HODL and CAIN designed and planned the study. EFG supervised data collection. RSH performed statistical analysis. HODL, EFG and ICQ contributed to the analysis and interpretation of the results. EFG and HODL wrote the draft of the paper with input from all the authors. MCL, FDG, MEM and RGM reviewed critically the paper. All authors approved the final version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Héctor Ochoa-Díaz-López.

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Flores-Guillén, E., Ochoa-Díaz-López, H., Castro-Quezada, I. et al. Intrauterine growth restriction and overweight, obesity, and stunting in adolescents of indigenous communities of Chiapas, Mexico. Eur J Clin Nutr 74, 149–157 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-019-0440-y

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