Prevalence of overweight and obesity in schoolchildren of high socioeconomic level in Londrina, Paraná, Brazil

OBJECTIVE: To verify the prevalence of overweight and obesity in 7 to 10 year old schoolchildren of both sexes and high socioeconomic level. METHODS: Five hundred and eleven schoolchildren (274 boys and 237 girls) were submitted to anthropometrical measurements of body mass, stature and subscapular and triceps skin-fold thickness. Body mass indexes >85th percentile and 95th percentile were adopted as indicators of obesity. The socioeconomic level was established based on information obtained from a questionnaire, considering the degree of education of the parents and the familiar consumables. RESULTS: The total prevalence for overweight was 19.7% for the boys and 17.3% for the girls, with no significant differences amongst ages and sexes (p>0.05). On the other hand, the prevalence for obesity in the boys and girls was 17.5% and 9.3%, respectively, with significant differences between the sexes at 9 years (p0,05). Por outro lado, a prevalência de obesidade em meninos e meninas foi de 17,5% e 9,3%, respectivamente, com diferenças significantes entre os sexos aos nove (p<0,01) e dez anos (p<0,05), bem como no conjunto de todas as idades (p<0,01). CONCLUSÃO: Os resultados indicam taxas de prevalência de sobrepeso (~19%) e de obesidade (~14%) bastante superiores à média da população brasileira na faixa etária entre os sete e dez anos. Portanto, diferentemente do observado em países desenvolvidos, o alto nível socioeconômico parece afetar negativamente a prevalência de sobrepeso e obesidade, aumentando os riscos para o desenvolvimento de disfunções metabólicas em idades precoces.70971

Prevalência de sobrepeso e obesidade em escolares de alto nível socioeconômico em Londrina, Paraná, Brasil

Objective: To verify the prevalence of overweight and obesity in 7 to 10 year old schoolchildren of both sexes and high socioeconomic level. Methods: Five hundred and eleven schoolchildren (274 boys and 237 girls) were submitted to anthropometrical measurements of body mass, stature and subscapular and triceps skin-fold thickness. Body mass indexes ≥85th percentile and 0.05). On the other hand, the prevalence for obesity in the boys and girls was 17.5% and 9.3%, respectively, with significant differences between the sexes at 9 years (p<0.01) and 10 years (p<0.05) of age, as well as amongst the entire group of ages (p<0.01). Conclusion: The results indicated a high prevalence ratio for overweight (∼19%) and obesity (∼14%), much greater than the average for the 7-10 year old Brazilian population. Therefore, different from that observed in developed countries, a high socioeconomic level seems to negatively affect the prevalence for overweight and obesity, increasing the risk of the precocious development of metabolic dysfunctions

Aerobic fitness and its relationship with growth and maturation processes

The aimf of this paper is to provide information concerning aerobic fitness and then relate the behavior of aerobic strength with growth and maturation processes, since the aerobic metabolism during the practice of physical exercises has been the target of research along the last decades, both under the perspective of health promotion and the improvement of the athletic performance. In that sense, information about aerobic fitness has provided the evaluation of the cardiorespiratory system functioning, the training efficacy control, the determining of the effort relative load, besides determining the individual’s energy expenditure in different age groups, both male and female, and with differential levels of physical fitness. The main indexes used in this purpose have been the maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) or the peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak). However, several factors may influence such indexes, being either determinant or retraint of the motor performance, mostly in predominantly aerobic activities. Among such factors the emphasis is on growth and maturation processes, which can explain many of the differences found in the behavior of different individuals submitted to similar physical efforts, providing thus a more consistent analysis of the differences in the motor performance, particularly of young male and female