Anthropometric nutritional of adolescents from a region of low economic development in Brazil: comparison with the WHO-2007 reference

Antropometria nutricional de adolescentes de uma região brasileira de baixo desenvolvimento econômico: comparação com referência OMS-2007

The identification of nutritional inadequacies in specific segments of the youth population can provide the basis for public health intervention. The objective of this study was to evaluate anthropometric indicators of nutritional status in a sample of adolescent schoolchildren from a region of low economic development in Brazil. The sample consisted of 1,538 subjects ranging in age from 15 to 18 years, including 1,036 girls and 502 boys. Nutritional status was assessed based on height and body mass index (BMI) and comparisons were made to the corresponding percentile distributions of the Word Health Organizations-2007 (WHO-2007) reference. The percentile distributions for height and BMI in the two genders differed significantly from the WHO-2007 reference. There was a high proportion of adolescents with short height (< 10^th percentile) and indication of overweight/obesity (> 90^th percentile). Therefore, although being a region of low economic growth and with one of the lowest social indicators in the country, excess body weight was an important problem associated with nutritional status. The high proportion of overweight/obesity highlights the need to implement public policies designed to promote healthy eating habits and physical activity.

Growth; Height; Nutritional status; Overweight; Obesity; Undernutrition