title: Comparison of the Nutritional Status of Overseas Refugee Children with Low Income Children in Washington State.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The extent that the dual burden of undernutrition and overnutrition affects refugee children before resettlement in the US is not well described.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe the prevalence of wasting, stunting, overweight, and obesity among refugee children ages 0-10 years at their overseas medical screening examination prior to resettlement in Washington State (WA), and to compare the nutritional status of refugee children with that of low-income children in WA.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed anthropometric measurements of 1047 refugee children ages 0-10 years old to assess their nutritional status at the overseas medical screening examination prior to resettlement in WA from July 2012--June 2014. The prevalence estimates of the nutritional status categories were compared by country of origin. In addition, the nutritional status of refugee children age 0-5 years old were compared to that of low-income children in WA from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 982 children were eligible for the study, with the majority (65%) from Somalia, Iraq and Burma. Overall, nearly one-half of all refugee children had at least one form of malnutrition (44.9%). Refugee children ages 0-10 years were affected by wasting (17.3%), stunting (20.1%), overweight (7.6%) and obesity (5.9%). Among children 0-5 years old, refugee children had a significantly higher prevalence of wasting (14.3% versus 1.9%, p<0.001) and stunting (21.3% versus 5.5%, p<0.001), and a lower prevalence of obesity (6.2% versus 12.9%, p<0.001) than low-income children in WA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The dual burden of under- and over-nutrition among incoming refugee children as well as their overall difference in prevalence of nutritional status categories compared to low-income children in WA provides evidence for the importance of tailored interventions to address the nutritional needs of refugee children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.|Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development, Seattle Children's Research Institute, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.
authors.forename: Elizabeth E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Dawson-Hahn
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.|Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America.
authors.forename: Suzinne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pak-Gorstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, Colorado, United States of America.
authors.forename: Andrea J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hoopes
authors.affiliation: Refugee Health Program, Office of Communicable Disease Epidemiology, Washington State Department of Health, Shoreline, Washington, United States of America.
authors.forename: Jasmine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Matheson
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011203:Poverty; D012036:Refugees; D014481:United States