Nutritional Profile of Children of Public Schools of Southern Brazil

Objective: Describe the nutritional and epidemiologic profile of children in public schools in an urban area in Southern Brazil.

Methods: cross-section study using convenience sample of 283 children ages 7 to 8, from day care facilities and public schools in Southern Brazil. Data regarding weight, height, waist circumference and Body Mass Index (BMI) was collected, according to Health Ministry Technical Normative. The nutritional status was defined and weight, height and BMI’s Z score averages were obtained, by age and sex. Height by age (H/A) and BMI/A of pre-schoolers and schoolchildren were compared.

Results: The mean age was 7.8 years, 42% were female and 58% were male. Regarding waist circumference, 9.54% were elevated, considering 55.55% men and 44.44% women. Comparing the waist-to-height ratio, 31.50% of the students had this high rate, being 66.29% female and 33.70% male.

Conclusions: A high proportion of severe obesity is observed, 3.7 times higher in males. The waist circumference is slightly higher in females, but the waist-to-height ratio is almost double in females. Although males have severe obesity, females seem to also present cardiovascular risk because they have the highest waist-to-height ratio. There was also a statistically and highly significant linear correlation between the waist-to-height ratio and waist circumference with p