Impact of COVID-19 on child malnutrition, obesity in women and household food insecurity in underserved urban settlements in Sri Lanka: a prospective follow-up study.
Public Health Nutr
; 24(11): 3233-3241, 2021 08.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1203383
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
To determine changes and factors associated with child malnutrition, obesity in women and household food insecurity before and after the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic.DESIGN:
A prospective follow-up study.SETTING:
In 2019, the baseline Urban Health and Nutrition Study 2019 (UHNS-2019) was conducted in 603 households, which were selected randomly from 30 clusters to represent underserved urban settlements in Colombo. In the present study, 35 % of households from the UHNS-2019 cohort were randomly selected for repeat interviews, 1 year after the baseline study and 6 months after COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka. Height/length and weight of children and women were re-measured, household food insecurity was reassessed, and associated factors were gathered through interviewer-administered questionnaires. Differences in measurements at baseline and follow-up studies were compared.PARTICIPANTS:
A total of 207 households, comprising 127 women and 109 children were included.RESULTS:
The current prevalence of children with wasting and overweight was higher in the follow-up study than at baseline UHNS-2019 (18·3 % v. 13·7 %; P = 0·26 and 8·3 % v. 3·7 %; P = 0·12, respectively). There was a decrease in prevalence of child stunting (14·7 % v. 11·9 %; P = 0·37). A change was not observed in overall obesity in women, which was about 30·7 %. Repeated lockdown was associated with a significant reduction in food security from 57 % in UHNS-2019 to 30 % in the current study (P < 0·001).CONCLUSIONS:
There was an increase in wasting and overweight among children while women had a persistent high prevalence of obesity. This population needs suitable interventions to improve nutrition status of children and women to minimise susceptibility to COVID-19.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Child Nutrition Disorders
/
Urban Health
/
Pandemics
/
Food Insecurity
/
COVID-19
/
Obesity
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Variants
Limits:
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Public Health Nutr
Journal subject:
Nutritional Sciences
/
Public Health
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S1368980021001841
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