Abstract:

Introduction: The increase of overweight and obesity in children has become common and alarming, since excess of body fat has emerged as a major factor in the etiology of many chronic non-communicable diseases. Aim: To evaluate and compare the body mass index in school children from 06 to 10 years, both sexes in a municipal school from Cuiabá-MT. Materials and Methods: The study included 234 children aged between 06 and 10 years, of both sexes, regularly enrolled and attending a public school in Cuiabá-MT. Body mass and height was evaluated, and, subsequently calculated the body mass index (BMI) and corresponding percentile. Results: There was no statistical difference between body mass (p=0.47), height (p=0.68), BMI (p=0.17) and percentile (0.52) compared girls and boys. There was a higher prevalence of normal weight in both groups and for all age-groups, except for girls aged 10 years, with 36.4% (n=12) normal weight and 39.4% (n=13) obese. Girls had higher body mass than boys at nine and 10 years old respectively 35.8 (24.1 to 54.5 kg) versus 31.7 (26.2 to 67.2 kg) p=0.24; and 44.2 (26.2to 76.2 kg) versus 41.0 (28.2 to 68.9 kg) p=0.17. Conclusion: There was a higher prevalence of overweight and obesity at nine and 10 years of age compared to age-tracks six, seven and eight years. There was no statistical difference between the percentages for any age group.

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