Double burden of malnutrition and obesity in children and adolescents from North Korean refugee families

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 15; no. 11; p. e0241963
• Main Authors: Kim, So-Young, Choi, Seong-Woo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 06.11.2020; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Age; Asian refugees; Biology and Life Sciences; Body Height; Body mass; Body mass index; Body size; Body Weight; Care and treatment; Child; Child malnutrition; Child, Preschool; Childhood obesity; Children; Country of birth; Democratic People's Republic of Korea; Economic aspects; Families & family life; Female; Food and nutrition; Growth Disorders - epidemiology; Health aspects; Humans; Male; Males; Malnutrition; Medicine and Health Sciences; Nutrition assessment; Nutritional Status; Obesity; Pediatric Obesity - epidemiology; People and Places; Prevalence; Preventive medicine; Refugees; Republic of Korea - epidemiology; Republic of Korea - ethnology; Statistical analysis; Teenagers; Thinness - epidemiology; Underweight; Wasting Syndrome - epidemiology; Weight; Youth; Democratic People's Republic of Korea; Republic of Korea; South Korea; North Korea
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241963

This study assessed the nutritional status of children and adolescents from North Korean refugee (NKR) families who have settled and are living in South Korea (SK). Among the 547 individuals who participated in the study, 526 were ultimately included after excluding 21 with missing height or weight data. Their nutritional status was estimated using the 2017 Korean National Growth Charts for children and adolescents. Stunting, underweight, wasting, and obesity were defined as a height-for-age z-score < −2.0, weight-for-age z-score < −2.0, weight-for-height z-score < −2.0, and body mass index z-score > 2.0, respectively. The overall prevalence of stunting, underweight, wasting, and obesity was 7.0%, 6.8%, 5.3%, and 9.1%, respectively. Meanwhile, the prevalence of stunting, underweight, wasting, and obesity was 5.4%, 7.0%, 7.6%, and 10.3% for individuals settled in SK for <5 years and 6.1%, 6.1%, 0.0%, and 13.3% for those living in SK for ≥5 years, respectively. Therefore, children and adolescents from NKR families experience the double burden of malnutrition and obesity.