Objective: The lockdown for the COVID-19 pandemic affects lifestyle patterns globally and impacts children and adolescents. This study aims to assess the effect of the lockdown on body weight, eating habits, and physical activity of Jordanian youth (children and adolescents).Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 477 Jordanian children and adolescents aged 6-17 y. The study tool was a structured validated questionnaire. It comprised 4 parts, including a general description of the study purpose, sociodemographic and anthropometric data, physical activity data, and food intake pattern. Questions were reported before and during lockdown. Changes in outcomes over the 2 study time points were evaluated.Results: After the lockdown period, the mean body weight and body mass index for age Z-scores (BAZ) showed a significant increase (P < 0.001) compared with before the lockdown period. More than 50% of the subjects reported that they spent more than 3 h in front of the screen during the lockdown. The percent of subjects who watched TV for more than 3h was increased. Moreover, physical inactivity was increased significantly during the lockdown. All food groups consumption was significantly increased during the lockdown compared to before the lockdown.Conclusions: COVID-19 lockdown period was characterized by an increase in the use of screen-based devices, lower physical activity, uncontrolled food intake, and weight gain.

Jordan is witnessing an escalating pace of nutrition transition, which may be associated with an increased burden of malnutrition and related non-communicable diseases. This review analyzes the nutrition situation in Jordan by exploring specific nutrition indicators, namely infant and young child feeding, low birthweight, micronutrient deficiencies, anthropometric indicators, and food consumption patterns. Results showed that although most children were ever breastfed and early initiation of breastfeeding had a two-fold increasing trend, rates of exclusive breastfeeding below 6 months of age and continued breastfeeding until two years of age were low. Complementary feeding indicators, particularly minimum diet diversity and minimum acceptable diet standards, were suboptimal. An overall low burden of stunting, wasting, and underweight among children under 5 years and remarkable progress in optimizing iodine status among school-aged children were reported. Conversely, the burden of low birthweight and overweight/obesity exacerbated, coexisting with anemia, vitamin A deficiency, and vitamin D deficiency. Overall, fruit and vegetable consumption were inadequate. The consumption of soft drinks and salt on the other hand was higher than recommended. This review acknowledges the double burden of malnutrition in Jordan and recommends the prioritization and evaluation of interventions towards improving the population’s nutritional status and achieving nutrition targets.

Malnutrition causes diverse alterations in the immune system, and COVID-19 is an infection affecting the immune system, consequently leading to malnutrition. This study aimed to investigate the use of prognostic nutritional index (PNI) and selected inflammatory indices for malnutrition screening among COVID-19 hospitalized patients. This is a single-center retrospective study that enrolled 289 hospitalized COVID-19 patients between 1st January to 30th April 2021, their median age was 59 years. Demographic and biochemical data were collected from patients' records. The PNI, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and an early warning score to predict mortality risk (ANDC) were calculated. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed. A P-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. about 30 % of patients were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), and ICU patients had significantly higher levels of white blood cell (WBCs) count, neutrophils, C-reactive protein (C-RP), and D-dimer (P < 0.05). On the other hand, they had significantly lower levels of lymphocytes and serum albumin (P < 0.001; for both). Those with high ANDC scores were more likely to develop severe conditions affecting nutritional status compared to non-ICU (OR = 1.04, 95 % CI:1.014-1.057; P < 0.001). ANDC showed good discrimination ability with an AUC of 0.784 (cut-off value > 68.19 score). It is suggested that ANDC could be used as a predictor for nutritional status and severity in COVID-19 hospitalized patients.

The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an emerging respiratory infection with severe impacts on the nutritional status of the worldwide population. This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the food insecurity, dietary diversity, and food-related coping strategies in Jordan during the pandemic using an online, self-administered questionnaire. Among the 740 adults who completed the survey, the prevalence of food security was 84.1%, whereas 2% and 13.9% were moderately and severely food-insecure, respectively. The determinants of food insecurity were educational level, monthly income, marital status, availability of health insurance, and type of residence. In addition, food insecurity was significantly higher among the participants who consumed two or fewer meals per day (p = 0.015). Moreover, an acceptable food consumption score was shown among 76.2% of the participants, and the remaining participants were at borderline (14.1%) or had poor scores (9.7%), with a significant association between food insecurity and food consumption scores (p < 0.001). The food-related coping strategies studied were significantly associated with food insecurity at both levels (p < 0.001) and were more evident in the severely food-insecure group. These findings highlight the adverse effects of COVID-19 restrictions on nutritional status, especially among food-insecure households, which might reduce food accessibility due to economic difficulties.