title: Malnutrition in the first two years of life. The contribution of low birth weight to population estimates in the United States.
abstract: To examine the contribution of low birth weight (LBW) to prevalence estimates of undernutrition as measured by low length-for-age (L/A), we analyzed data on 374554 children under 24 months old from the Centers for Disease Control Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System. Overall, 9.2% of white, 13.4% of black, and 9.2% of Hispanic children weighed less than 2500 g at birth. The mean prevalence of low L/A during the first two years of life was 10.4%, 12.0%, and 11.7% for whites, blacks, and Hispanics, respectively; the mean proportion of L/A less than the fifth percentile attributable to LBW was 28.9%, 27.6%, and 21.3%. Our results demonstrate the need to consider the LBW prevalence in population estimates of malnutrition since 20% to 40% of the prevalence of low L/A in the first two years of life can be attributable to LBW.
mesh_terms: D044383:Black People; D001827:Body Height; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight / Q000254:growth & development*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009748:Nutrition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012306:Risk; D014481:United States; D044465:White People; D001741:Black or African American