Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Jan 30:11:62.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-11-62.

Nationwide shifts in the double burden of overweight and underweight in Vietnamese adults in 2000 and 2005: two national nutrition surveys

Do T P Ha  1 , Edith J M Feskens, Paul Deurenberg, Le B Mai, Nguyen C Khan, Frans J Kok
Affiliations

Nationwide shifts in the double burden of overweight and underweight in Vietnamese adults in 2000 and 2005: two national nutrition surveys

Do T P Ha et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: In developing countries, overweight prevalence is increasing while underweight prevalence is still high. This situation is known as the double nutrition burden. Both underweight and overweight are related to increased risk of chronic non-communicable diseases, reduced well-being and quality of life. This study aims to compare the prevalence of overweight and underweight among Vietnamese adults in 2000 and 2005.

Methods: The study was based on two nationally representative surveys, the National Nutrition Survey 2000 (14,452 subjects) and the National Adult Obesity Survey 2005 (17,213 subjects). Adults aged 25-64 years were sampled to be nationally representative. Multiple multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the association of underweight and overweight with socio-economic indicators.

Results: The distribution of BMI across the population and population groups indicated a shift towards higher BMI levels in 2005 as compared to 2000. The nationwide prevalence of overweight (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2) and obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) was 6.6% and 0.4% respectively in 2005, almost twice the rates of 2000 (3.5% and 0.2%). Using the Asian BMI cut-off of 23 kg/m2 the overweight prevalence was 16.3% in 2005 and 11.7% in 2000. In contrast, the underweight prevalence (BMI < 18.5 kg/m2) of 20.9% in 2005 was lower than the rate of 25.0% in 2000. Women were more likely to be both underweight and overweight as compared to men in both 2000 and 2005. Urban residents were more likely to be overweight and less likely to be underweight as compared to rural residents in both years. The shifts from underweight to overweight were clearer among the higher food expenditure levels.

Conclusions: The double nutrition burden was clearly present in Vietnam. The distribution of BMI across the population groups generally indicated a shift towards higher BMI levels in 2005 as compared to 2000. The prevalence of overweight was increased while the declined level of undernutrition was still high in 2005. The shifts of underweight to overweight were most obvious among population groups with higher food expenditure levels.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
BMI distribution (%; 95% CI) in adults aged 25-64 years in 2000 and 2005 by area of residence.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevalence of overweight (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2) in 2000 and 2005 by age group, sex and area of residence.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Prevalence of underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m2) in 2000 and 2005 by age group, sex and area of residence.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Prevalence of underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m2) and overweight (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2) in 2000 and 2005 by ecological region. RRD: Red river delta, NE: Northeast, NW: Northwest, NCC: North Central Coast, SCC: South Central Coast, WH: West Highland, SE: Southeast, MRD: Mekong river delta.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Prevalence of underweight and overweight by education level in 2000 and 2005.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Prevalence of underweight and overweight by food expenditure level in 2000 and 2005.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ke-You G, Da-Wei F. The magnitude and trends of under- and over-nutrition in Asian countries. Biomed Environ Sci. 2001;14(1-2):53–60. - PubMed
    1. Sairenchi T, Iso H, Irie F, Fukasawa N, Ota H, Muto T. Underweight as a Predictor of Diabetes in Older Adults. DIABETES CARE. 2008;31(3) - PubMed
    1. Gillespie S, Haddad L. Introduction. In Attacking the double burden of malnutrition in Asia and the Pacific. ADB Nutriiton and Development series No 4 Asian Development Bank, Manila, Phillipines and International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA. 2001. pp. 1–4.
    1. Tee ES. Obesity in Asia: prevalence and issues in assessment methodologies. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2002;11(Suppl 8):S694–701. doi: 10.1046/j.1440-6047.11.s8.12.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. James PT. Obesity: the worldwide epidemic. Clin Dermatol. 2004;22(4):276–280. doi: 10.1016/j.clindermatol.2004.01.010. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources