Changes in the prevalence of thinness among children in Vilnius, Lithuania: a comparison of two longitudinal data sets of children born in 1990 and 1996.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to calculate and compare the prevalence of thinness in children born in 1990 and in 1996 in Vilnius, Lithuania. The study was longitudinal as the data used for calculation were obtained by measuring every child's height and weight at least once per year from birth to the age of 17. The measurements were transcribed from the children's personal health records from the same outpatient clinic. The prevalence of overall thinness and grade 1 thinness in children that were born in 1996 was considerably lower compared to the children that were born in 1990. The prevalence of grade 1 thinness comprised the majority of all thinness cases in girls and boys alike. In conjunction with another study (Suchomlinov et al. 2016), which assessed the same children and discovered an increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity, a clear trend of a decrease in the prevalence of thinness and normal BMI, while an increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children born in 1996 compared to 1990, emerged.