Total and central obesity in elderly associated with a marker of undernutrition in early life – sitting height‐to‐stature ratio: A nutritional paradox

Objectives The purpose of this study was to investigate whether sitting height‐to‐stature ratio (SHSR) is associated with total and central obesity in the elderly. Methods This was a cross‐sectional study with 133 noninstitutionalized elderly. High SHSR (≥ 1SD above the mean) was used as a marker of undernutrition (MU) in early life. Poisson's multiple regression was used to determine the association between variables. Results The prevalence of high SHSR was 21.0%, total obesity 43.6% and central obesity 50.4%. Elderly with high SHSR presented a statistically significant association with total obesity (PR 1.50; 95% CI 1.04–2.18) and central obesity (PR 1.42; 95% CI 1.03–1.95) after adjustment for sex, age, educational level and income in the multivariate analysis. Conclusion The occurrence of total and central obesity in the elderly was associated with a MU in early life. This result indicates that nutritional deficiencies in childhood may increase the risk of obesity in the elderly, a nutritional paradox.