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Journal of Human Growth and Development

Print version ISSN 0104-1282On-line version ISSN 2175-3598

Abstract

MACEDO, Cícero Cruz et al. Evaluation of growth and nutritional condition of children in Public Schools in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. J. Hum. Growth Dev. [online]. 2020, vol.30, n.1, pp. 40-48. ISSN 0104-1282.  http://dx.doi.org/10.7322/jhgd.v30.9960.

INTRODUCTION: Obesity is becoming more and more frequent in children, which can result in health problems both in childhood and in adulthood. Considering that, at school age, eating habits may be influenced by the context in which the child is inserted, mainly, lifestyle, inside and outside the school environment, it is important to evaluate the growth achieved in height, as well as their nutritional status, since this can be an indication of future and possible nutritional disorders, allowing to direct resources and effective public policies in this age groupOBJECTIVE: Evaluate the growth in stature and nutritional condition of schoolchildren by gender and age in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil, in the first semester of the 2012 school yearMETHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 595 children of six to ten years of age, through the marketing of Public Municipal Elementary Schools, in the city of Florianópolis, State of Santa Catarina, Brazil. The statistical analysis of the data was performed with the Statistical Package for the Social Science, version 20.0RESULTS: It was assessed a larger proportion of children between seven and nine years of age, and both in relation to the stature as the Body Mass Index (BMI). The medians are higher when compared to the reference (World Health Organization), revealing that the children are growing well, even above the average for the benchmark. However, at the same time, they have a BMI higher than expected, even considering their high stature. The diagnosis of nutritional status among the boys and girls showed no statistical differences. However, it is worth highlighting that, although the bigger prevalence is eutrophic children (70.3%), a high prevalence of excess weight (overweight, obesity and severe obesity) can also be observed, around 28% of the sampleCONCLUSION: Although most children were found to be in normal nutritional condition, some were identified as being overweight or obese. It was evident that nutritional condition does not differ in relation to gender, but is influenced by age and height

Keywords : nutritional status; sex; Body Mass Index.

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