Estado nutricional de crianças e adolescentes de um município do semiárido do Nordeste brasileiro

Abstract

Objective:To evaluate the nutritional status of schoolchildren, resident in a semiarid region in the Northeastern Brazil.Methods:This is a cross-sectional study, involving 860 children and adolescents aged from 5-19 years-old, enrolled in three public schools in the county. The selection of schools was non-probabilistic type and unintentional. The initial population, which integrated the database, was composed by 1,035 children and teenagers, and 175 students (16.9%) were excluded because of inconsistency in the anthropometric data, resulting in a sample of 860 students. The following outcomes were considered: stunting (malnutrition), overweight and obesity (overweight), being the height/age and body mass index/age (BMI/Age), indices respectively used. Children and adolescents with height <-2 standard deviations and overweight and obese weight z score ≥1 were considered stunted. The statistical analysis was descriptive.Results:The prevalence of stunting and overweight/obesity was 9.1% and 24.0%, respectively. Overweight and stunting were higher in adolescents aged 15 and over, compared to other age groups analyzed. In relation to gender, malnutrition presented itself in a similar way, but overweight was more frequent among females. Conclusions:The results revealed that excess weight, here represented by the sum of overweight and obesity, was more prevalent than stunting (malnutrition), highlighting the urgent need for attention to this problem in order to design interventions capable of contributing to the improvement of schoolchildren nutritional status.

Anthropometry and lifestyle of children and adolescent in inland of Northeastern Brazil

“…With relation to the stature deficit, only 1.95% of the schoolchildren exhibited low stature for their age, demonstrating that the children and adolescents' growth is appropriate and consistent with the reference of WHO 15 . In a similar study, which used data from the HSP of Maribondo city-AL, stature deficit was 9.0% 16 . In Pernambuco state, the survey conducted to evaluate the short stature indicated a decrease of this problem which fell from 16.9% in 1997 to 9.6% in 2006 17 .…”

“…Similar results were observed in the city of Sorocaba-SP (22.1%) 18 and in the interior of Pernambuco (17.8%) 19 . In the interior of Alagoas, this rate ranged from 23.2 to 35.5% depending on the age range 16 . Anthropometric data in the Brazilian regions indicate that the Northeast is undergoing a process of nutritional transition, in which there is a decrease of malnutrition and an increase of excess weight.…”

Alimentação Complementar De Lactentes Atendidos Em Uma Unidade Básica De Saúde Da Família No Nordeste Brasileiro

“…Esses alimentos podem irritar a mucosa gástrica, induzir alergias e levar a obesidade (4)(5)(6) . Em outras pesquisas os percentuais foram 64% e 71,7% de consumo entre os menores de 2 anos, convergindo com nossa pesquisa.…”

“…Estudos mostram que a alimentação em nossa sociedade é de baixa qualidade, apresentando consumo frequente de leite de vaca, farinhas, achocolatados, açúcares, salgadinhos, refrigerantes e doces, o que repercute negativamente na primeira infância (6) . O Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) constatou em 2015 que a obesidade infantil triplicou (9,7% para 33,5%) nos últimos 40 anos (7) .…”

Health surveillance in day-care centers: analysis of nutritional status in children under two years old

“…The body mass index for the age expresses the linear growth of children and corresponds to the data that best represents the cumulative effect of adverse conditions on their growth, being considered the most sensitive index to measure the quality of life of the child population (7) . The growth process is influenced by a network of biological, socioeconomic, demographic, cultural and environmental variables which may delay or accelerate its natural course (1) .…”