European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

PREVALENCE OF EXCESS WEIGHT IN STUDENTS FROM NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL

Nilviane Pires Silva Sousa*, Guilherme De Oliveira Lima, Alice De Sá Ferreira, Camila Guimarães Polisel, Sally Cristina Moutinho Monteiro and Allan Kardec Barros

ABSTRACT

Objective: To assess the prevalence of the excess weight in adolescents from São Luís, Maranhão, Northeastern Brazil. Subjects/Methods: Cross-sectional study with a sample of 513 students aged 10-19 years from public schools of São Luís, Maranhão. The following indicators were assessed: weight, height, age, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), conicity index (C index) and weight-to-height ratio (WHtR). Descriptive analyses, Anova-One-Way test and frequencies were used for data analysis. Results: The prevalence of excess weight, abdominal adiposity and altered waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) in the sample were 41.91% (n = 215), 32.55% (n = 167) and 26.51% (n = 136), respectively. After the sample divided into three groups, stratified by nutritional status, and called eutrophic (n=298), overweight (n=133) and obesity (n= 82). The obesity group presented a higher mean of the analyzed variables: body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and WtHR. The prevalence of abdominal adiposity and altered WtHR were higher in obesity group. Conclusion: The prevalence of cardiometabolic risk factor was higher in adolescents with excess weight. We recommend the implementation of measures to prevention/explanation in schools in order to reduce the prevalence of overweight in this age group.

Keywords: Obesity, Adolescents, Antropometric index, schoolchildren.