Revista Paulista de Pediatria (Dec 2014)

Anthropometric indices among schoolchildren from a municipality in Southern Brazil: a descriptive analysis using the LMS method

  • Valter Cordeiro Barbosa Filho,
  • Adair da Silva Lopes,
  • Ricardo Rosa Fagundes,
  • Wagner de Campos

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1590/S0103-05822014000400009
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 32, no. 4
pp. 333 – 341

Abstract

Read online

OBJECTIVE: To describe the percentile values for body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and waist-to-height (WHtR) of children from Colombo, Brazil, and compare them with data of children from other countries.METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study with a random sample of 2,035 children aged 6-11 years. Age- and sex-specific smoothed percentiles curves for BMI, WC and WHtR were created using the LMS method. Values of 10th, 50th and 90th percentiles from Brazilian children were compared with data from other countries.RESULTS: There was a trend of increasing BMI and WC with age in both sexes. WHtR remained constant with advancing age in boys and girls. Comparison of the growth pattern among countries showed clear differences. Southern Brazil boys and girls had elevated 90th percentile values for BMI, which was similar to German children and higher than the North American and World Health Organization percentile values. However, children from this study had intermediate values for WC and WHtR in comparison to children from other countries.CONCLUSIONS: Elevated BMI values were observed among southern Brazilian children, but WC and WHtR percentile values were lower in southern Brazilian children than in children from other countries. Interventions at different levels should be made to avoid a probable increase of nutritional disorders (especially general obesity) in the next years.

Keywords