[Prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in child and adolescent students in the city of Maceió]

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of systemic arterial hypertension (SAH), "risk of overweight," overweight, sedentary lifestyle, and smoking in children and adolescents from 7 to 17 years of age, of both sexes, in public and private schools in the city of Marceió, in the state of Alagoas.

Methods: A cross-sectional epidemiological study with sampling from a population pool was carried out. It comprised elementary and middle schools, randomly selected. The sample was calculated based on the expected lower prevalence of the variables studied. The assessment protocol comprised a structured questionnaire, anthropometry, and blood pressure measurements. The chi-square test was used to analyze the association among variables.

Results: In 2001, 1,253 students (547 of the male sex; mean age, 12.4+/-2.9 years) were assessed. The results were as follows: 1.172 students participated in no moderate to intense physical activity; "risk of overweight" and overweight were present in 116 and 56 individuals, respectively; blood pressure in the > or = 95th percentile was identified in 97 students; and only 30 students admitted smoking regularly. The following significant associations were observed: "risk of overweight" and overweight in private school students (*P=0.0001) and sedentary lifestyle in the female sex (*P=0.0001).

Conclusion: The prevalence of a sedentary lifestyle, "risk of overweight," overweight, systemic arterial hypertension, and smoking in the population studied was 93.5%, 9.3%, 4.5%, 7.7%, and 2.4%, respectively.