Debora Tornquist

Association between overweight and obesity in schoolchildren with rs9939609 polymorphism (FTO) and family history for obesity

OBJECTIVE To determine the association between overweight/obesity in schoolchildren with FTO rs9939609 polymorphism (fatmass and obesity associated) and family history of obesity. METHODS Cross-sectional study comprising a sample of 406 children aged 7-17 years in a city in southern Brazil. Overweight/obesity in schoolchildren was assessed by body mass index (BMI), and family history of obesity was self-reported by parents. Polymorphism genotyping was performed by real time PCR (polymerase chain reaction). The association between the nutritional status of schoolchildren with the presence of family obesity, stratified by polymorphism genotypes (AA [at-risk for obesity], AT, and TT), was assessed by prevalence ratio values (PR) through Poisson regression. RESULTS Among schoolchildren with the AA genotype, 57.4% had overweight/obesity; the percentage was lower for the AT and TT genotypes (33.1% and 28.9%, respectively). Overweight/obesity in schoolchildren was associated with a family history of obesity, especially among children with the AA genotype. The prevalence was higher among those with an obese mother (PR: 1.28; p<0.001), obese maternal or paternal grandmother (PR: 1.22; p=0.047), and obese paternal grandfather (PR: 1.32; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS There is an association between the AA genotype of rs9939609 polymorphism and BMI among schoolchildren. The association between overweight/obesity in schoolchildren with a family history of obesity was found mainly among students with the AA genotype.

Obesity parameters as predictors of early development of cardiometabolic risk factors

The scope of this study was to verify the association between different overweight and obesity parameters and the metabolic risk profile among school-age students. The randomized cross-sectional study included 1254 children and adolescents, aged 7 to 17, from a city in southern Brazil. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and percentage of fat (PF), measured at the triceps and based on subscapular skinfold thickness, were used as the parameters to evaluate overweight/obesity status. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), low-density protein cholesterol (LDL) and triglycerides were also measured. The metabolic risk profile was calculated based on the sum of the z score of the metabolic variables adjusted by age. A three-model Poisson analysis was used to verify the association between BMI, WC and PF with metabolic risk profile. BMI showed the highest probability for developing metabolic risk compared with WC (overweight - PR: 1.63 and obesity - PR: 3.87) and PF (overweight - PR: 1.62 and obesity - PR: 2.92). In conclusion, BMI seems to be a better parameter of overweight/obesity than WC and PF in the assessment of metabolic risk among youths.

Insatisfação corporal de escolares e sua relação com o estado nutricional real

This paper aims to identify the prevalence of body dissatisfaction among schoolchildren and relate it to their real nutritional status. The evaluation included 1578 schoolchildren in the municipality of Santa Cruz do Sul-RS, through the measures of weight and height, for the calculation of the body mass index (BMI) and questionnaire to evaluate the satisfaction with the body weight. The results show that body dissatisfaction was significantly higher among the girls, among the adolescents and among the higher economic classes. Most schoolchildren showed a body perception consistent with the actual nutritional status, however, some worrying results were found that point out a distortion between body perception and actual nutritional status, as the percentage of eutrophic girls who would like to decrease weight, and overweight school children who said they were satisfied with their weight or who would like to increase it.

PROGRAMAS DE INTERVENÇÃO COM ESCOLARES OBESOS NO BRASIL: UMA REVISÃO NA BASE DE DADOS DO SCIENTIFIC ELECTRONIC LIBRARY ONLINE

Overweight school children constitute an important target group for interventions in lifestyle. This study aimed to review existing research on intervention programs performed with overweight and obese children and / or adolescents in Brazil, on the Scientific Electronic Library Online database, using the descriptors “Estudo de intervenção”, “Obesidade”, “Criança”, “Adolescentes” and “Escolares”, using the union of two descriptors. We included studies published between January 2010 and May 2014 and only experimental or quasi-experimental studies. Results indicated 514 articles. After the analyses, eight articles were included in the study. In most of these studies, interdisciplinary intervention was performed. The prioritized physical activity was aerobic, and the sessions lasted for 60 minutes in six studies. The amount of three sessions a week is consensus in the studies and the program lasted 12 weeks in five of them. As for the main purpose and the main results, it is noticeable the great variation, however, seven of the eight articles cited improvement in body composition. In conclusion all of the works reported some positive gain for health, demonstrating the importance of these strategies for the promotion of the health of obese children and adolescents.