Antropometria e nível de atividade física de crianças e adolescentes atendidos no ambulatório de nutrição de um Hospital Universitário

Abstract

Objective: To verify the correlation between the anthropometric variables and the level of physical activity of children and teenagers in ambulatory care.Methods: Descriptive quantitative study with a cross-sectional design, which evaluated 20 children and teenagers from age 0 to 19 at the nutrition ambulatory. A previously elaborated form for the research and anthropometric data, level of physical activity and the reason for the query were collected. The evaluation and classification of the nutritional status was measured by the body mass index for age (BMI-for-age). The relationship between the BMI-for-age z score and the anthropometric variables was verified by the Spearman coefficient, assuming a 5% significance level.Results: The anthropometric profile demonstrated in this study was: most patients overweight (55%), high percentage of body fat (45%), and low level of physical activity (70,0%). There were strong correlations between the BMI-for-age and anthropometric variables, considered critical for determining the variance in the BMI-for-age z score, with the exception of the variable for level of physical activity.Conclusions: It was observed a predominance of overweightness between the children and teenagers which attended at the nutrition ambulatory. The BMI-for-age have shown significative correlation with the utilized anthropometric variables, therefore, considered a good indicator of the nutritional status. Although the level of physical activity has not shown correlation with the anthropometric variables, sedentarism indicates an inadequate life style for this age group.