Abstract

MONTEIRO, Lisiane Nunes; AERTS, Denise  and  ZART, Vera Beatriz. Nutritional status and associated factors of students from public schools in Gravatai, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Epidemiol. Serv. Saúde [online]. 2010, vol.19, n.3, pp.271-281. ISSN 1679-4974.  http://dx.doi.org/10.5123/S1679-49742010000300009.

OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the nutritional state of students from local public schools of Gravatai, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, according to sex, age, sexual maturity, school location and body image perception. METHODOLOGY: a transversal study was undertaken, with representative sampling of 1,131 students from the 1st to 8th grades, with the use of three instruments: anthropometric card; Body Shape Questionnaire and Tanner classification. The outcome was categorized according to the Body Mass Index (BMI). Data analysis was performed with multivariate ordinal logistic regression. RESULTS: suitability of the nutritional state was found in 64.3% of students; 31.1% were overweight/obese, 6.4% hadmalnutrition and 8.2% were atrisk of being underweight. Considering separately the 476 young people from the 5th to the 8th grade, students from rural schools were 33 times more overweight/obese than those from the urban area. Youngsters concerned about their body image had three times more chances of having malnutrition/nutritional risk and were 11 times more overweight/obese. CONCLUSION: the high prevalence of overweight/obesity demands greater concern by health and education areas, especially with students at rural schools.

Keywords : nutritional assessment; body image; student health; children; adolescents.

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