Prevalence and factors associated with excess weight in adolescents in a low-income neighborhood - Northeast, Brazil

Abstract Objectives: to study the prevalence of excess weight and associated factors among adolescents from a low-income neighborhood located in the city of Recife, Pernambuco. Methods: cross-sectional study, in which behavioral, socioeconomic and demographic information was collected from June to December 2014. Excess weight was calculated based on body mass index for age and the cut-off points, by the World Health Organization (2007). To analyze associations between predictor variables and the outcome, multivariate data analysis was performed following the Poisson Regression (Prevalence Ratio - PR) with their respective 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). Results: twenty-five adolescents participated in the study, with a prevalence of 36.4% of excess weight: 20.4% overweight (95%CI=15.1-25.7) and 16.0% obesity (95%CI= 11.2-20.8), predominantly in female gender (42.5%; p=0.031). The outcome was associated with internet access (PR=1.20; 95%CI=1.01-1.43), the number of people in the family (PR= 1.12; 95%CI=1.01-1.28) and screen time (PR=1.13; 95%CI=1.01-1.27), but only in male gender. Conclusions: the prevalence found was higher than that of other national researches, especially for the female gender. In the male gender, not having internet access, a lesser number of family members and a longer screen time proved to be factors associated with being excess weight.