Abstract

BEJARANO, Ignacio et al. Evolución de la prevalencia de sobrepeso, obesidad y desnutrición en escolares de San Salvador de Jujuy. Arch. argent. pediatr. [online]. 2005, vol.103, n.2, pp.101-109. ISSN 0325-0075.

Introduction: An increase of overweight, obesity and malnutrition has been detected in infantile population in underdeveloped countries. The aim of this work was to evaluate the prevalence and outcome (1995-2000) of this nutritional conditions in schoolchildren of San Salvador de Jujuy. Population, material and methods: The anthropometric data (height and weight) of all schoolchildren dipierri@inbial.unju.edu.ar evaluated in the Schoolchildren Health Depart ment of Welfare Ministry were analyzed (n = 48,533). In order to determine overweight/obesity percentages, the following criteria were used: Criterion 1: cut-off points of 25 kg/m2 (overweight) and 30 kg/ 2 (obesity) (transcultural reference); Criterion 2: percentiles 85th (overweight) and 95th (obesity) of the BMI (international reference); Criterion 3: percentiles 85th and 95th (Jujuy population). Malnutrition was evaluated through z scores, determining low height (LHA) and low weight for age (LWA). Results: Estimated differences among criteria were observed, being greater the values obtained with the criterion 2. Considering all the criteria, and independently of sex, the average increase of overweight and obesity prevalence was greater in the group of 11-16 years. Males presented greater prevalences than females. Concomitantly, an increase in percentages of LHA and LWA was observed. Conclusions: In the analyzed period, an increase in the prevalence of overweight/obesity and malnutrition was observed. The percentages varied according to sex, age and used criterion. The existence of the emerging nutritional paradigm "obesity in the poverty" is confirmed. It is proposed that the evaluation of the prevalence of overweight/obesity should include more than one criterion, because they provide similar but not identical results.

Keywords : overweight; obesity; malnutrition; prevalence; Jujuy.

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