ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Children and Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1583167
This article is part of the Research TopicChildren in Global Health: Promoting Health Equity from the Perspective of Media, Culture and CommunicationView all articles
Global burden of children and adolescents' nutritional deficiencies from 1990 to 2021
Provisionally accepted
- Peple's HospitaI of Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, Chongqing, China
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Objective: Nutritional deficiencies critically impair growth and development in children and adolescents, yet comprehensive assessments of their global adolescentspecific burden are lacking. Adolescence represents a critical developmental window marked by rapid physical, cognitive, and psychosocial changes, making individuals particularly vulnerable to nutritional imbalances. This study aims to quantify the global burden of nutritional deficiencies in children and adolescents and children aged 0-19 20 years. Methods: Using 2021 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) data, we assessedthe rates and numbers were used to assess the global impact of adolescent nutritional deficiencies among children and adolescents by analyzing rates and absolute numbers. Joinpoint analysis and average annual percentage changes (AAPC) were applied to explore temporal trends from 1990 to 2021. Results: In 2021, nutritional deficiencies caused 85,886 deaths (95% uncertainty interval [UI]: 78,203-93,452) and 25.6 million DALYs (UI: 23.3-27.9 million) among children and adolescents globally. Global mortality and DALY rates due to adolescent nutritional deficiencies in this population declined consistently from 1990-2021. Notably, the DALYs rates for protein-energy malnutrition, iodine deficiency, vitamin A deficiency, and dietary iron deficiencydecreased globally, with the AAPC from 1990 to 2021 being -5.2 (-6.4 to -4), -2.8 (-3 to -2.6), -2.6 (-2.7 to -2.6), and -0.5 (-0.6 to -0.5), respectively. Despite these improvements, regions with lower Social Development Index (SDI), including low and low-middle SDI areas, the death rates and DALYs rates for adolescent nutritional deficiencies among children and adolescents remain high, although they have been declining over the 30-year study period. Africa and Asia continue to bear the greatest burden. At the age level, children under five exhibited the highest burden across all age groups. Conclusions: Since 1990, the global burden of adolescent nutritional deficiencies among children and adolescents have declined; however, it continues to be a significant public health issue, particularly in regions with low SDI. To mitigate this burden, more effective public health interventions are required.
Keywords: Nutritional deficiencies, Global burden of disease, Children, Adolescent, Disability-adjusted life years, death
Received: 25 Feb 2025; Accepted: 26 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhou #, Li and Cai. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yixi Cai, Peple's HospitaI of Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, Chongqing, China
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