Nutritional status of children in school age: A look of concern in an era of COVID-19 pandemic

Rationale: To analyze the evolution of the nutritional status of Elementary School children, over four years, and to infer the impact of nutritional imbalances to child infection susceptibility Methods: A convenience sample of two elementary schools were studied during 4 school years, starting in 2016/2017 Weight and height were collected Body mass index (BMI) z-score was calculated using the WHO AnthroPlus software Nutritional status was evaluated according to WHO guidelines Results: 1155 students (6 - 14 years-old, 48 5% female) were included The mean z-scores of each year were: 0 43 ±1 17 in 2016/2017, 0 70 ±1 31 in 2017/2018, 0 38 ±1 30 in 2018/2019, and 0 34 ±1 86 in 2019/2020 The 2019/2020 school year recorded the highest percentage of underweight (10%), the highest percentage of normal weight was recorded in 2016/2017 (67 2%), 2017/2018 registered the highest percentage of overweight (24 6%) and the highest percentage of obesity was registered in 2019/2020 (18 2%) In these 4 years there has been an increase in the percentage of underweight (2 2% to 10%) and obesity (8 1% to 18 2%) and a decrease in the percentage of normal weight (67 2% to 54 6%) and overweight (22 5% to 17 1%) Conclusion: The increase in the prevalence of underweight and obesity between 2016 and 2020 is worrying, mainly during a pandemic that has obesity and malnutrition as risk factors Also, the decrease in the prevalence of overweight may be related to conversion of these cases into obesity cases, since normal weight cases also decreased We are implementing a nutrition education program in these schools to try reverting this serious public health problem, although facing some resistance Therefore, nutritionists are needed in Portuguese schools, to promote health and nutrition literacy among students, especially during pandemic times References: de Onis M, Onyango AW, Borghi E, Siyam A, Nishida C, Siekmann J Development of a WHO growth reference for school-aged children and adolescents Bull World Health Organ 2007;85(9):660-7 Disclosure of Interest: None declared