Nutritional status of Indian adolescents (15-19 years) from National Family Health Surveys 3 and 4: Revised estimates using WHO 2007 Growth reference.

Using the adult cutoffs significantly overestimates thinness in adolescents in the age group of 15-19 years old in India. Stunting, which is an indicator of long term nutrition is also widely prevalent in them. Future editions of DHS and NFHS should consider adolescents as a separate age group for nutritional assessment for a better understanding of nutritional transition in the population.