The prevalence of overweight in 3,806 children under six years of age, living in the city of Florianópolis, state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, was determined through weight for height Z-scores (National Center for Health Statistics reference). Results showed an incidence of 1.9% for malnutrition and 6.8% for overweight, and this last one predominated in female children under the age of two, living in not-so-poor areas. The prevalence of overweight in this study was compared to those found in other regions of Brazil and in other countries. The chi2 Mantel-Haenszel test was applied to verify the association of overweight occurrence with poor/not poor areas, sex and age. Statistically significant association (p<0.05) was observed among children under two years of age. This result is similar to the one found by Pesquisa Nacional sobre Saúde e Nutrição for Brazil in 1989.
overweight; infant population; anthropometry; child; infant nutrition
