Obesidade Infantil, Actividade Física e Sedentarismo em crianças do 1ºciclo do ensino básico da cidade de Bragança (6 a 9 anos)

Abstract

During last years we’ve been assisting to a significant increase on the indexes of prevalence of childhood obesity, particularly in developed countries, conducting, in some cases, to epidemic proportions. Concerning this fact, the term “Disease of Civilization” associated to Obesity is clearly indicative of a dramatic situation. With the aim of searching the occurrence of obesity and over-weight in children in Bragança, a coorte study was held with 226 enrolled students in 1st Cycle Schools, aged 6 to 9.A social and demographic questionnaire was used, associated to the measurement of simple parameters –weight and height – as well as the determination of Body Mass Index(BMI), in order to determine Over--Weight and Obesity Indexes in the elements of the sample. Statistical procedures were realized with the support of SPSS Version 12.0 software. Results are similar to the ones that have been presented by most of the published studies; the relevance of the prevalence of overweight and obesity among students enrolled in the 1stCycle Basic Schools. Anyway, results point out also the known tendency of higher BMI values among girls, particularly in ones aged 8 and 9.