Abstract
ABSTRACTObjective: To identify the prevalence of overweight in adolescents according to different classification criteria for obesity and somatic maturation stages.Methods: Cross-sectional study in 10 schools in a city from Southern Brazil, with 1715 adolescents. Height, weight, waist circumference, and neck circumference (NC) data were collected. Body Mass Index was classified according to World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria, and the waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) was classified according to Brazilian and European cut-off points. Somatic maturation was obtained through the Peak Height Velocity. The prevalence data were compared between sex and stages of somatic maturation; the concordance between different criteria was verified.Results: The prevalence of overweight was high in both sexes; WHO criteria showed that 34.5% of boys and 29.3% of girls were overweight. For the WHtR, the prevalence was 28.4% in boys and 23.7% in girls. NC classified 13.8% of boys and 15.8% of girls as being overweight. The prevalence of overweight was higher in adolescents before complete somatic maturation.Conclusions: The prevalence of overweight was high among adolescents. The boys presented higher frequency of overweight, except if NC was used to classify them. Adolescents before somatic maturation had a higher prevalence of overweight. NC showed a lower ability to track obese adolescents.
Highlights
A few decades ago, diet and physical activity patterns underwent major changes in developed and developing countries
The results found in this study with adolescents from 10 to 17 years of age point out significant differences in the variables weight, height, neck circumference (NC), waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) between males and females
With the Body mass index (BMI) and the WHtR, the prevalence of being overweight was high in both sexes
Summary
A few decades ago, diet and physical activity patterns underwent major changes in developed and developing countries. In the 1980s, consumption of processed foods, instant foods and fast-food-style meals increased considerably.[1] In addition, changes in leisure, mobility and work have reduced the practice of physical activity Such transformations generated an “obesogenic” environment and led to major changes in body composition that culminated in an increase in obesity rates in the United States and Europe.[1,2] obesity used to be a problem that was exclusive to developed countries, given that in underdeveloped countries, such as Brazil, the main problem was malnutrition.[3] with the process of urbanization, and as underdeveloped countries have improved their economies, global influences have transformed the lifestyle of the population of these countries.[2] As a result of the globalization process, refined and ultra-processed foods have become cheaper than organic foods, causing obesity rates to increase dramatically among the world population. The number of overweight people exceeded the number of malnourished people, and obesity has become a pandemic disease.[1,2,4]
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