Abstract
The health of school-age children and adolescents has been the focus of much attention, since at this stage of life students experience biological, social, emotional and cognitive changes. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence rates of obesity, overweight and symptoms of eating disorders (ED) among the sixth-grade students of the municipal schools in Caxias do Sul in 2011. A school-based, cross-sectional study evaluated 1230 students (86.80% of the total). A self-report questionnaire and anthropometric measures of weight and height were used in the assessment. The prevalence rates of obesity, overweight and ED symptoms were 7.30%, 22.80% and 33.10%, respectively. The students dissatisfied with their body image were four times more likely (PR=4.01; CI 95%= 2.71–5.93) to have excess weight and nine times more likely (PR=9.30; CI 95%=6.29–13.78) to have symptoms for ED. The prevalence rates of ED symptoms, obesity and overweight of the evaluated students are high and warrant the attention of the community as a whole.
Highlights
The health of school-age children and adolescents has been the focus of much attention, since at this stage of life students experience biological, social, emotional and cognitive changes [1]
The present study found 30.10% of overweight students, a higher rate compared with the study carried out in Denmark [7], in which the children and adolescents had 1.10% obesity and 8.60% overweight
Comparing the results of the current study with other Brazilian studies, they are higher than those found in the cities of Florianópolis, which showed 21.90% of overweight students, Maceió [16], with 13.80% of overweight students, and Sorocaba [17], where 22.10% of the students were overweight or obese
Summary
The health of school-age children and adolescents has been the focus of much attention, since at this stage of life students experience biological, social, emotional and cognitive changes [1]. This is a time when exposure to environment-related risk factors such as inadequate diet and sedentary behavior begins and may persist throughout adulthood [2]. These factors are associated with most chronic non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer, which are the leading causes of adult death in Brazil [2,3]. Other factors that have been associated with overweight are dissatisfaction with the body image and bullying [7]
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