Behavioral factors associated with overweight and with obesity in students in the State of Santa Catarina

Abstract

A cross-sectional study with 4,964 elementary school students of the State of Santa Catarina was performed to check for the association of socioeconomic variables and exercise with overweight or obesity, the two latter diagnosed by the Body Mass Index (BMI). The outcome variables, overweight and obesity, were estimated by point prevalence and 95% confidence intervals. Prevalence ratios were obtained by the Poisson model and adjusted to per capita family income, parents´ schooling, child´s gender and age. The prevalence of overweight and obesity were 15.4% and 6.1%, respectively, similar between gender and age categories. After adjustments, variables associated with overweight and obesity were: weekly frequency of practicing sports; number of hours of sleep/night; and hours/day on the computer (weekends). Less sports practice, less hours of sleep/night and more time on the computer were associated with overweight or obesity in the students studied.