Obesity in children and adolescents is more prevalent in the southeastern region of Brazil than in the northeast. The conclusion, by, Marcelo M. Abrantes, Joel A. Lamounier and Enrico A. Colosimo, is published in the article Prevalence of overweight and obesity in children in the southeastern and northeastern regions, now available on SciELO. The researchers, from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) used data from research into standards of living carried out by the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in 1997. 3,317 children and 3,943 adolescents were studied, divided into age groups. In the northeast, obesity was observed in 8.2% of the children and 6.6% of the adolescents. In the southeastern region, the percentages were far higher: 11.9% for the children and 8.4% for the adolescents. “The difference in the prevalence of obesity among unweaned infants and adolescents above the age of 18 was not statistically significant. Among the unweaned, obesity was more prevalent in the female sex,” the authors concluded.
Jornal de Pediatria [Journal of Pediatrics] – vol. 78 – nº 4
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