The nutritional status of schoolchildren living in the semi-arid area of northern Brazil/Estado nutricional de escolares do semi-arido do Nordeste Brasileiro/Estado Nutricional de los estudiantes de la region semiarida del noreste de Brasil

Objective This study was aimed at describing the nutritional status of 10 to 17 year old children enrolled in public and private schools from different regions having specific Brazilian semi-arid area characteristics. Material and methods This was a cross-sectional, descriptive and comparative study using a stratified probability sample (n=1 701). 900 children were male and 801 female selected from three cities, randomly chosen from 3 cities which were representative of the regions: Leste Potiguar-RLP (n=1,158), Oeste Potiguar-ROP (n=312) and Central Potiguar-RCP (n=231). They were divided into three age groups: 10 to 12 years, 13 and 14 years and e [greater than or equal to] 15 years. Conde and Monteiro cutoff points were used for body mass index (BMI) classification. Results Regarding the regions, there was a significant difference (p