Underweight and overweight cluster equally with child stunting in Indonesia

Background: Previous published results showed a dual burden of underweight and overweight within households in Indonesia. Aim: This study documents the dual burden in stunted pre‐school children from Indonesia in 2000. Methods: Definitions for stunting, underweight, wasting and overweight/obesity are based on the WHO international growth standards. Maternal weight status is assessed based on BMI definitions for underweight, overweight, or normal weight. Results: Stunted children were predominantly normal weight (86.7%) whereas the prevalence of overweight (6.7%) and wasting (6.6%) were nearly equal. Furthermore, mothers of stunted children were also predominantly normal weight (69.1%) with only a slightly higher prevalence of overweight (17.2%) than underweight (13.7%). Comparing maternal under and overweight, stunted children two and under more frequently clustered together with underweight mothers. In contrast, the older children more frequently had overweight mothers. Conclusions: In 2000, stunted Indonesian children and their mothers were predominantly normal weight. Furthermore, by the age of 3, stunted children have more overweight than underweight mothers. More research is needed to understand the role of food quality and/or infectious disease to the dual burden of child under‐nutrition and overweight/obesity.