Obesity is considered the most important nutritional disorder due to a rapid increase in its prevalence in recent years. The scope of this study was to estimate the prevalence of abdominal obesity and excess fat in students aged 11 to 14 (boys and girls) from a town in the mountains of southern Brazil, and to verify the possible associations with economic classification, gender, age, eating habits, lifestyle habits (physical activity and sedentary activities) and dissatisfaction with body image. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 1230 students. The anthropometric variables studied were the waist circumference and the skin folds of the triceps and calf. A descriptive and bivariate analysis was conducted between the independent variables and the outcome. The prevalence of abdominal obesity and excess body fat were 28.7% and 40.1% respectively. There was a statistically significant association between a greater number of meals and dissatisfaction with body image and abdominal obesity, which was also associated with girls evaluated, and to excess body fat. The prevalence of abdominal obesity and excess body fat are high and justify the implementation of health actions in schools.
Abdominal obesity; Body fat; Students
