Author:

• Fabíola Bof de Andrade - de Andrade, FB - Vitória - Universidade de Pernambuco - <fabiolabof@yahoo.com.br>
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3467-3989

Thematic Area:

Não Categorizado

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity and its association to socioeconomic status, in a sample of non-institutionalized elderly people from Vitória-ES, Brazil. This was a cross-sectional survey with a sample of 882 elderly people aged 60 and over. Obesity and overweight were assessed using the body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC). All subjects answered a personal and sociodemographic questionnaire in relation to age, gender, marital status, physical activity, number of children, chronic diseases and smoking. Associations between categorical variables were tested using chi-square analysis with a 5% significance level. The prevalence of overweight and obesity was high (41.8% and 23.4%, respectively) and 50.7% of the elderly had a substantially increased waist circumference. About 4.3% of the individuals had diabetes, 50.4% had hypertension and 14.9% were found to have had both diseases. It was observed that both the BMI and WC were significant associated (p<0,05) with sex, marital status, the presence of diseases and with cigarette smoking.
Key words: Nutritional status; Aged; obesity; overweight

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