SynthesisBMJ global health2021
Economic inequality in malnutrition: a global systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in BMJ global health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- The influence of weather and urban environment characteristics on upper respiratory tract infections: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Association Between Socioeconomic Status and Incident Sarcopenic Obesity: A 17-Year Prospective Cohort Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- The prevalence of undernutrition among children in Malaysia: the difference between conventional assessments and the composite index of anthropometric failure.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2026Article
- Frequency and correlates of non-receipt of age-appropriate vaccination among children aged 6-35 months with medically attended diarrhea: Findings from the Enterics for Global Health (EFGH) Shigella study, 2022-2024.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Socioeconomic inequalities in obesity among older adults in the Astana region of Kazakhstan: evidence of a reversed socioeconomic gradient.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Bridging the gap in pediatric nutrition: a narrative review of nutritional support strategies and their impact on child health inequalities.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Sociodemographic Factors Attributed to the Double Burden of Malnutrition in Urban Bangladesh.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Global, regional and national disease burden of neonatal disorders from 2000 to 2021 and the comparison before and during COVID-19: a systematic analysis.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Socio-economic and rural-urban disparities in the double burden of childhood malnutrition in sub-Saharan Africa.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Article
- Can nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions address intersectional inequalities in women's diets? A mediation analysis using cross-sectional trial data from Odisha, India.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2025Article
- Socioeconomic inequality in the prevalence of anemia: decomposing analysis among Kurdish people.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Stunting and inequality in Sri Lanka compared with other low- and middle-income South Asian countries.Public health nutrition · 2025Article
- Burden, trends, and projections of nutritional deficiencies in China from 1990 to 2030.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- A comprehensive analysis of vitamin a deficiency burden and trends: insights from the global burden of disease study 2021 and future predictions to 2050.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Income and education disparities in childhood malnutrition: a multi-country decomposition analysis.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Effects of the Local Environment and Nutritional Status on the Incidence of Acute Respiratory Infections Among Children Under 5 Years Old in Indonesia.Journal of preventive medicine and public health = Yebang Uihakhoe chi · 2024Article
- Dietary diversity moderates household economic inequalities in the double burden of malnutrition in Tanzania.Public health nutrition · 2024Article
- Malnutrition among the older adult: an additional challenge for the rehabilitation team-insights of a small population of Switzerland.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Birth-to-childhood tracking of linear growth and weight gain in the MINA-Brazil Study.Revista de saude publica · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo describe the evidence on global and regional economic inequality in malnutrition, and the associations between economic inequality and malnutrition.
methodsWe conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis. Between 1 November 2020 and 22 January 2021, we searched Medline, Embase, Global Health, Eldis, Web of Science and EBSCO Discovery Service. We contacted 39 experts and tracked citations. We included any study reporting a concentration index (CIX) relating economic status and nutritional status and any multilevel study reporting an association between economic inequality and nutritional status. Nutritional status was measured as stunting, wasting, anaemia, or overweight in children (<5 years), or underweight, overweight or obesity, or anaemia in adults (15-49 years). We had no study date or language restriction. Quality was assessed using the Appraisal Tool for Cross-Sectional Studies (AXIS tool). We mapped estimates and pooled them using multilevel random-effects meta-analyses.
resultsFrom 6185 results, 91 studies provided 426 CIX (>2.9 million people) and 47 associations (~3.9 million people). Stunting (CIX -0.15 (95% CI -0.19 to -0.11)) and wasting (-0.03 (95% CI -0.05 to -0.02)) are concentrated among poor households. Adult overweight and obesity is concentrated in wealthier households (0.08 (95% CI -0.00 to 0.17)), particularly in South Asia (0.26 (95% CI 0.19 to 0.34)), but not in Europe and Central Asia (-0.02 (95% CI -0.08 to 0.05)) or North America (-0.04 (95% CI -0.10 to 0.03)). We found no association between 0.1 increase in Gini coefficient and adult underweight (OR 1.03 (95% CI 0.94 to 1.12)) or overweight and obesity (0.92 (95% CI 0.80 to 1.05)).
conclusionsThere is good evidence that the prevalence of malnutrition varies by levels of absolute economic status. Undernutrition is concentrated in poor households, whereas concentration of overweight and obesity by economic status depends on region, and we lack information on economic inequalities in anaemia and child overweight. In contrast, links between malnutrition and relative economic status are less clear and should not be assumed; robust evidence on causal pathways is needed. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020201572.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.