Growth and nutritional status of adolescents of public education system

Abstract

Introduction: The prevalence of obesity in children and adults has increased worldwide exponentially over the past two decades, becoming an important issue of global public health. Objective: To describe the growth and nutritional status of adolescents of public schools. Method: Epidemiological, cross-sectional study, a representative sample of students aged 10 to 14 years of the public schools of the Metropolitan Region of Grande Vitória (MRGV), State of Espírito Santo, Brazil. Data on gender, age, skin colour/race, pubertal stage, socioeconomic class, weight and height were obtained. In the nutritional evaluation, the Height/Age (H/A) and Body Mass Index/Age (BMI/A) indexes, in z-score, of the WHO reference (2007) were considered. For statistical analysis, we used the Qui-square test and Student's t test (Mann-Whitney test for non-normal distribution), and significance level of p <0.05. Study approved by the Institutional Research Ethics Committee. Results: There were assessed 818 adolescents, with average age of 12.8 ± 1.1 years, female predominance (58.3%), mixed skin colour/race (41.7%), post-pubertal stage (53, 4%) and socioeconomic class C (59.5%). It was identified very low stature in 0.4% and low stature in 1.8% of adolescents. Overweight was diagnosed in 227 (27.7%) students, represented by overweight (18.7%), obesity (8.4%) and severe obesity (0.6%); While 0.2% presented severe thinness and 2.7% thinness. The mean z-score of girls' height (p = 0.024) was higher than the WHO reference, as well as the BMI z-score of girls (p = 0.0001) and boys (p = 0.0002). Conclusion: Adolescents of public schools of MRGV achieve adequate growth, even higher, on average, proposed by WHO (2007). However, they also present a high prevalence of overweight, indicating that the region is at an advanced stage of nutritional transition.

Estado nutricional de crianças e adolescentes residentes na região nordeste do Brasil

“…O estado nutricional influencia diretamente a percepção da qualidade de vida do indivíduo 10 . Sendo assim, tanto a desnutrição quanto o sobrepeso e a obesidade incidem em fator de risco para o desenvolvimento de capacidades físicas, motoras e cognitivas da população jovem 11 . A obesidade, por exemplo, predispõe a osteoporose e osteoartrite, à longo prazo, sobretudo nas articulações do joelho e quadril 12 .…”

Nutritional profile and food characteristics served to adolescents in compliance with socio-educational measure / Perfil nutricional e características da alimentação servida aos adolescentes em cumprimento de medida socioeducativa

“…The Annual Survey of the National System of Socio-Educational Care 15 , released the information for the year 2016, and presented a population of around 26,450 adolescents served, most of whom were internment measures. In 2016, in Brazil 47% (12,960) of the total number of infractional acts were classified as analogous to robbery (plus 1% of attempted robbery) and 22% (6,254) were registered as analogous to drug trafficking.…”

“…About the acts committed, 127 (47%) of the infractional acts were analogous to robbery, followed by infractional acts analogous to homicide that corresponded to 44 (16.35%) of the offenders. 15 The age bracket with the highest number of adolescents under socio-educational measures is 16 to 17 years old, with 57% (15,119), followed by 18 to 21 years old, with 23% (6,728). With this data we can confirm the increase in the number of adolescents under a socio-educational measure, especially in internment, as well as ratify the numbers found in Table 1.…”

Translational medicine and its contribution to public health

“…In the current issue of JHGD these studies evaluate technologies that involve the improvement of health conditions and/or issues for public health investigating the health situation of the population, especially children and adolescents [8][9][10] , which corroborate the themes in the health promotion field within the context of primary care focusing on teens and their vulnerabilities [11][12][13] , nutrition and influence on child and adolescent development [14][15][16][17][18] and themes focused on translational medicine, describing results to improve the health indicators of the population [19][20][21][22] . With an emphasis on nutritional status, to highlight obesity in adolescents, Tebar et al 17 found the prevalence of abdominal obesity in adolescents in the city of Londrina, Paraná, Brazil, and its associated factors.…”