Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of and factors associated with overweight among university students from the city of Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1,104 students (mean age: 24 years) from Rio Branco, Acre. Overweight was used as the dependent variable. The following independent variables were studied: socioeconomic variables (gender, age, teaching institution, period of study, marital status, income, household members, living with other people, parent's education level, and working or not); self-reported health and morbidity variables (health perception, hypertension, diabetes, and altered cholesterol); lifestyle variables (physical activity, watching television, computer use, smoking, and alcohol consumption). The nutritional status was classified based on body mass index. Univariate analysis was performed using Pearson's chi-squared test or Fisher's exact test. Variables with a p value < 20% on univariate analysis were included in the multiple Poisson regression model. The prevalence of overweight was 35.6%. In the multiple regression model for male students adjusted for age, overweight was associated with marital status, household income, hypertension, and watching television every day. In the model for female students, the variables that remained associated were self-perceived health status, hypertension, and alcohol consumption in the last month. Overweight is determined by a combination of different factors which differed in the present study between men and women.
Highlights
Several factors are associated with the development of overweight, including genetic, physiological and metabolic factors[1]
Most students were in the age group of 20 to 29 years, were enrolled in a private institution, studied at night, were single, had a household income of 3 to 10 minimal wages (MW), and lived with 2 to 5 household members and with the parents who had up to 8 years of schooling
There was a significant difference in the prevalence of overweight between male and female students (p < 0.001), which was 43.6% among men and 29.7% among women
Summary
Several factors are associated with the development of overweight, including genetic, physiological and metabolic factors[1]. Lifestyle changes such as a reduction in physical activity levels and an increase in the time spent in sedentary behaviors, in the consumption of simple carbohydrates, high-fat foods and soft drinks and in food portion size explain the increasing number of overweight adults[2]. Studies have shown a high and increasing prevalence of overweight among university students[5,6]. National surveys on overweight among adults indicate that this prevalence has more than doubled over 35 years[7]. Similar results have been reported for adults from other countries where this increase is even greater[8,9]
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