Thinness in young schoolchildren in Serbia: another case of the double burden of malnutrition?
OBJECTIVE
Thinness is rarely highlighted or regularly monitored among children in developed countries although it may be rather frequent and pose a significant risk to children's health. We aimed to describe the prevalence of mild, moderate and severe thinness among young Serbian schoolchildren.


DESIGN
Cross-sectional study of schoolchildren aged 6-9 years. Children were assessed for weight, height and BMI as part of the WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative in Serbia. Thinness grades were defined as gender- and age-specific cut-offs for BMI according to the International Obesity Task Force criteria.


SETTING
Serbia, September to November 2015.


SUBJECTS
Students (n 4861) in grades 2 and 3 (6-9 years, 2397 girls).


RESULTS
Overall prevalence of thinness in Serbian schoolchildren was 9·6 %. Mild thinness was clearly the largest category with a prevalence of 7·6 %, moderate thinness was present in 1·7 % of children and severe thinness was found in 0·3 % of children. OR indicated a significant risk of being thin for girls (1·44 times higher compared with boys) and children attending schools with no health-focused educational programme (1·57 times more likely to be thin than peers enrolled in schools with such programmes). In addition, OR for thinness tended to be 1·23 times higher in children living in an economically disadvantaged region of Serbia (P=0·06).


CONCLUSIONS
A rather high prevalence of thinness highlights this malnutrition disorder as an emerging health issue that should trigger public health policies to tackle thinness, especially in girls of young age and children living in economically disadvantaged areas.
['Djordjic|Visnja|V|', 'Jorga|Jagoda|J|', 'Radisavljevic|Snezana|S|', 'Milanovic|Ivana|I|', 'Bozic|Predrag|P|', 'Ostojic|Sergej M|SM|0000-0002-7270-2541']
D000367:Age Factors D015992:Body Mass Index D001835:Body Weight D002648:Child D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D044342:Malnutrition D009752:Nutritional Status D016017:Odds Ratio D011203:Poverty D015995:Prevalence D012574:Schools D055771:Serbia D012737:Sex Factors D013851:Thinness
Thinness Malnutrition Children Girls Underweight