Prevalence of overweight and obesity in elderly people from Vitória-ES, Brazil

• Main Author: Andrade,Fabíola Bof de
• Publication Date: 2012
• Other Authors: Caldas Junior,Arnaldo de França, Kitoko,Pedro Makumbundu, Batista,Jose Edmilson Mazza, Andrade,Tania Bof de
• Format: Article
• Language: eng
• Source: Ciência & Saúde Coletiva (Online)
• Download full: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1413-81232012000300022
• topic: Nutritional status; Elderly people; Obesity; Overweight

The scope of this study was to estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity and its association with socio-economic 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 socio-demographic 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 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.