title: Recent trends in the prevalence of under- and overweight among adolescent girls in low- and middle-income countries.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Most studies of childhood malnutrition in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) focus on children <5 years, with few focusing on adolescence, a critical stage in development.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to evaluate recent trends in the prevalence of under- and overweight among girls (15-18 years) in LMICs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data are from Demographic and Health Surveys (53 countries) and national surveys conducted in Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Brazil and Mexico. The most recent surveys with sample sizes ≥50 when stratified by rural-urban status were included: 46.6% of countries had a survey conducted in the past 5 years, while the most recent survey for 10.3% of countries was over 10 years old. The overall rural sample size was 94,857 and urban sample size was 81,025. Under- and overweight were defined using the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) sex- and age-specific body mass index cut points.
  
  
  RESULTS
  South Asia had the highest prevalence of underweight; nearly double that of East Asia and the Pacific and sub-Saharan Africa, and increasing annually by 0.66% in rural areas. Latin America and the Caribbean had the highest regional prevalence of overweight in both rural and urban settings, and this prevalence is increasing annually by about 0.50%. In urban areas, 38% of countries had both an under- and overweight prevalence ≥10%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is substantial variation across and within regions in the burden of under- and overweight, with increasing dual burdens in urban areas. Innovative public health interventions capable of addressing both ends of the malnutrition spectrum are urgently needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Jaacks
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, Furman University, Greenville, SC, USA.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Slining
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutrition, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Popkin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017195:Adolescent Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D044466:Asian People; D044383:Black People; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003906:Developing Countries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D044468:Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011203:Poverty; D015995:Prevalence; D011634:Public Health; D013851:Thinness / Q000453:epidemiology*; D044465:White People
keywords: Adolescents; dual burden; overweight; underweight