Excesso de peso corporal e indicadores sociais, nutricionais e de saúde em escolas municipais

Abstract

Introduction: Overweight in childhood is positively associated with overweight in adulthood. In the medium and long term, being overweight may be a risk factor for hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Objective: Verifying the prevalence of overweight and obesity and related factors (food consumption, physical activity, family income, birth weight and breastfeeding) in children from 7 to 10 years old, students in the public elementary schools in the city of São Carlos, state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in the year of 2017. Methods: Exploratory survey conducted between september and november of 2017, with 306 children (154 boys: 152 girls), enrolled between the 2nd and 5th year of elementary school in 7 public elementary schools. The nutritional diagnostic of overweight (≥ z-score +1) and obesity (≥ z-score +2) was based on the World Health Organization’s Body Mass Index curves for age and gender. The variables family income, birth weight and breastfeeding duration were obtained in questionnaires completed by parents. And the information about food consumption and physical activity were completed by students, in the school, on the day of the anthropometry. Statistical analysis has been done through Epi Info 7.2.2.1, R e Sas OnDemand softwares. Values of p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.The association between excess weight (overweight and obesity) and other variables was investigated using Chi-Square, Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney and Pearson’s correlation tests. Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 22% and 24%, respectively. Overweight including obesity were found in 46% of the children. Among the variables investigated, the overweight was statistically associated with the waist circumference (p < 0.001), sedentary activities (such watching television or playing electronic games or using computer) (p 0.0228) and birth weight (p 0.0333). We observed that students who did not consume beans 5 times or more in the week were approximately 1.83 times more likely to have overweight. Regarding the school feeding menu, there was a predominance in the morning snack/ afternoon snack of ultraprocessed foods (70.6%) and in the main meal, in natura or minimally processed foods (57.1%). Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight found in schoolchildren was higher than the national average, which it worries and increase the need for corrective and preventive interventions in this age group. Based on the findings, believed that educational actions on healthy eating allied the physical activity and control of the time of use of electronic devices should be held at school. Finally, industrialized foods should be offered in school meals in a complementary way, prioritizing in natura or minimally processed foods, since these foods contribute positively to the growth and development of children.