Prevalence of weight excess in Brazilian children and adolescents: a systematic review

Abstract

The prevalence of obesity is rapidly increasing worldwide, no mattering age groups and socioeconomic status. In Brazil, it is still unclear the prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents, since most Brazilian studies have only verified regional prevalence of obesity. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to analyze the scientific production regarding the prevalence of weight excess in Brazilian children and adolescents. A search in the relevant electronic databases Medline/Pubmed, Web of Science, Lilacs, Scielo and BVS was performed. After analyzing 61 studies, the overall prevalence was 25.5%.When sample was stratified weight excess degree, a prevalence of17% and 11.6% for overweight and obesity were observed, respectively. Analyzing differences by sex, boys presented higher prevalence of overall weight excess (e.g., 26.4% vs 23.5%), overweight (17% vs 16%) and obesity (11.9% vs 9.1%) than girls. With respect to Brazilian regions and its differences, individuals from southern presented the highest prevalence of overall weight excess (33.2%) and overweight (20.1%). The southeastern region showed the highest prevalence of obesity (18.2%).The results obtained in the current study indicate that Brazil presents a scenario of crescent increasing on the prevalence of weight excess. These results are in accordance with studies from other countries,and reinforce the increase of the overall weight excess prevalence in Brazilian children and adolescents, highlighting the increasing of obesity rates, since it is a more concerning condition than overweight. Therefore, preventive measures to reduce weight excess increase, as well as treatment programs aiming to tackle obesity in childhood should be public health system top priority.