Estado nutricional antropométrico e associação com pressão arterial em crianças e adolescentes: um estudo populacional

Abstract

Aims: To evaluate the nutritional status of children and adolescents by anthropometric indicators and to evaluate the association of these results with blood pressure.         Methods: Children and adolescents between four and 19 years of age from rural and urban schools of a municipality of Rio Grande do Sul were included in this study. Those who refused (or whose parents refused) to participate or did not sign the consent form,  or in whom it was not possible to carry out the anthropometric or blood pressure measurements, were excluded. Weight, height, waist circumference, skin folds and blood pressure were measured, and the body mass index was calculated. Data were described by mean, standard deviation, amplitude of variation, absolute and relative frequencies. Stratification by gender, body mass index and central obesity was performed to analyze the influence of these on the other variables. Pearson's Chi-square was used to evaluate the associations. The level of significance was p<0.05.Results: At the time of data collection, 7,082 children and adolescents within the age group were enrolled in the municipal schools, and they were invited to participate. After applying the exclusion criteria, 5,936 children/adolescents were included in the study. The sample presented prevalence of overweight of 30.3%, central obesity 31.1% and excess body fat 8.7%. Overweight was higher in children from private schools (44.1%) than in state schools (29.5%) and municipal schools (29.9%) (p<0.001). There were statistically significant associations of high blood pressure with overweight, obesity, and central obesity (p<0.001).Conclusions: Prevalence of overweight was high and hypertension was associated with overweight, obesity and central obesity in children and adolescents of the studied population.