Geographical distribution of nutritional status of adolescents in a Brazilian city in the early years of the pandemic

Distribuição espacial do estado nutricional de adolescentes de um município brasileiro nos anos iniciais da pandemia

ABSTRACT

Objective

This study aims to build geographic models related to the nutritional status of adolescents and describe territories regarding the prevalence of malnutrition, overweight, and obesity, in order to spatially represent how the nutritional status of adolescents is distributed in the city.

Methods

Using geocoding techniques, graphic models were built using data from the SISVAN platform, as well as the addresses and nutritional status of adolescents aged 10 to 19 years in the municipality of Divinópolis, in the state of Minas Gerais (Brazil), between 2020 and 2021.

Results

There was a prevalence of 34% of obesity and overweight in the 2020 and 2021 samples. The graphical models showed that there is no specific pattern of points for the spread of nutritional diagnoses, but it was possible to identify areas of heat and places with a higher concentration of overweight. Underweight had a homogeneous spread and did not stand out in the formation of profiles.

Conclusion

Geographic tools with the adolescents’ nutritional profile were successfully modeled, which have the potential to contribute to better health indicator management in the assessed territory, even with the limitations of the study.

Keywords
Geographic mapping; Malnutrition; Obesity; Overweight; Primary health care; Spatial analysis