The overlap of overweight and anaemia among women in three countries undergoing the nutrition transition.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the odds of anaemia in overweight and obese (OVWT) (body mass index (BMI) > or =25) versus non-overweight (non-OVWT) (BMI<25) women in three countries at different stages of the nutrition transition. DESIGN: Analysis of cross-sectional data. SETTING: Nationally representative data from Mexico (1998 National Nutrition Survey), Peru and Egypt (2000 Demographic and Health Surveys) were analyzed. SUBJECTS: Data from non-pregnant women ages 18-49 years were used. ANALYSIS: Logistic regression was used to test whether the odds of anaemia differed by BMI category, controlling for sociodemographic factors. RESULTS: More than half of the women were OVWT in all three countries and the prevalence of OVWT reached 77% in Egypt. Anaemia prevalence was similar across countries (28, 31 and 23% in Egypt, Peru and Mexico respectively). In Egypt, OVWT women had significantly lower odds of anaemia than non-OVWT women (OR=0.78, 95% CI: 0.68, 0.90). Similar results were found in Peru, but the difference was smaller in magnitude (OR=0.83, 95% CI: 0.71, 0.96). In Mexico, there were no differences in the odds of anaemia by BMI group. CONCLUSIONS: These findings show that the iron needs of OVWT women in developing countries are not necessarily being met. The intakes of other micronutrients might also be insufficient. Diet quality remains an important issue even among women with sufficient energy intakes.

Coexistence of maternal central adiposity and child stunting in Mexico.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the coexistence of maternal adiposity and child stunting (CS) in Mexico, estimate its national prevalence and identify the associated socio-demographic factors. METHODS: A secondary analysis from the Mexican Nutrition Survey 1999, a nationally representative survey, was conducted. Mother and children subsamples were matched and a total of 6225 mother/child pairs were obtained. Stunting was defined as height-for-age z-scores <-2.0. Maternal body mass index (BMI) was classified according to World Health Organization recommended cutoff points. Waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) was calculated by dividing waist by hip circumferences. Logistic regression models were fitted to explore the coexistence of CS and maternal central adiposity (MCA) (WHR> or =0.85) while controlling for biological and socio-demographic factors. RESULTS: A total of 5974 pairs had complete information. MCA coexisted with CS in 6.2% of the mother/child pairs. The phenomenon was more prevalent in rural locations, in the south region and among indigenous families (14.5, 12.5 and 23.9%). After controlling for child age and maternal BMI, a 78% increase in the likelihood of CS was related to maternal WHR > or =0.85 (odds ratio (OR)=1.78, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.53, 2.10). After controlling for maternal height, the magnitude of the OR decreased (OR=1.33, 95%CI=1.13, 1.57), but remained significant. Therefore, it is suggested that women with a WHR approximately 1 have had twice the probability of having a stunted child as those with a WHR of 0.65. CONCLUSION: Although MCA and CS are two conditions frequently regarded as result of opposite determinants, our observation suggests that this is not necessarily the case, particularly in populations undergoing the nutrition transition. MCA was associated not only to chronic diseases, but also to child stunting.