Overweight and obesity in adolescents: association with sociodemographic variables - doi: 10.4025/reveducfis.v22i3.10041

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity in adolescents and to identify its associations with sociodemographic variables. A total of 608 teenagers (14 to 20 years) from of Lapa, Paraná, South Brazil were investigated. The body mass index was used to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity based on the criteria of Conde and Monteiro (2006) and World Health Organization (1995). The socioeconomic status (SES) was evaluated according to the Criteria for Economic Classification in Brazil. The Chi-square test, Fisher exact test, two-way ANOVA and binary logistic regression were applied for statistical analysis (p<0.05). The prevalence of overweight and obesity in adolescents was 11.0% and 2.0%, respectively. Adolescents from higher SES (A) were 3.3 times more likely to be overweight than adolescents with lower SES (OR=3.34;95%IC:1.27-8.77). The findings suggest that interventions aiming at changes in body weight of this segment of the population should consider the SES.