The growth status of North Korean refugee adolescents in South Korea: comparison with South Korean adolescents.

Aim: To assess the growth status of North Korean refugee adolescents (NKRA) living in South Korea (SK) and compare their growth status with that of SK adolescents (SKA).

Subjects and methods: NKRA were interviewed from 2017 to 2020, whereas the data for SKA were from the 2016 to 2018 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. SKA and NKRA were matched by age and gender in a 3:1 ratio and 534 SKA and 185 NKRA were enrolled.

Results: After adjusting for the covariates, NKRA had greater prevalences of thinness (odds ratio [OR], 11.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.9-45.6) and obesity (OR, 12.0; 95% CI, 3.1-46.1) than SKA, but were not of short stature. In comparison with SKA in low-income families, NKRA had similarly greater prevalences of thinness and obesity, but not of short stature. As the length of stay of NKRA in SK increased, the prevalence of short stature and thinness did not decrease, while the prevalence of obesity increased significantly.

Conclusion: Although they had lived in SK for several years, NKRA had greater prevalences of thinness and obesity than SKA and the prevalence of obesity increased significantly with the length of stay in SK.