Abdominal obesity in adolescents: prevalence and association with physical activity and eating habits

Abdominal obesity in adolescents is associated with cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, but its prevalence and the factors associated with its occurrence are unknown.

To determine the prevalence of abdominal obesity in adolescents, and to evaluate whether the indicators of physical activity and dietary habits are associated with the occurrence of abdominal obesity in adolescents.

The sample included 4138 high school students (14-19 years), selected by cluster sampling in two stages. We obtained data using the Global School-based Health Survey, and anthropometric measurements were taken for determination of overweight and abdominal obesity. Logistic regression was used for analysis of behavioral factors associated with the occurrence of abdominal obesity. The identification of cases of abdominal obesity was performed by waist circumference analysis, using age- and gender-related cutoff points as reference.

The mean age was 16.8 years (s = 1.4), and 59.8% of subjects were female. The prevalence of abdominal obesity was 6% (95%CI: 5.3-6.7), and it was significantly higher among girls (6.7%, 95%CI: 5.8-7.8) than among boys (4.9%, 95%CI: 3, 9-6, 0). In the crude analysis, gender and overweight were associated with the occurrence of abdominal obesity. The analysis adjustment by logisic regression allowed us to observe that physical activity was significantly associated with the occurrence of obesity in this group (OR = 0.7; 95% CI: 0.49-0.99), regardless of the presence of overweight.

The prevalence of abdominal obesity was low compared to that observed in international studies, and physical activity was a factor associated with the occurrence of this event in adolescents.