Obesity prevalence and metabolic syndrome in a park users

Background -Overweight and obesity are associated with metabolic syndrome and abdominal obesity, thereby increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. In Brazil, there are still no precise data on the prevalence of these disorders, especially among individuals who carry out some kind of physical activity in public spaces and there are no education and prevention programs for obesity.

To investigate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and obesity among park users.

A prospective, cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted with 619 individuals assessed and stratified by profile according to a specific protocol. The group was characterized as follows: female (50.1%) and mean age =50.6±14.8, with predominance of individuals aged between 50 and 59 years (26.8%) and with higher education (68%) and a household income of between 4 and 10 minimum wages (29.2%).

Regular physical exercise was reported by 78% of the individuals and it was found that 70.7% were nevertheless of above normal weight: 45% overweight and 25.7% obese, of whom 20.7% had obesity grade I, 3.9% grade II and 1.1% grade III. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 4.3%, mostly in men (6.3%). Arterial hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus were detected in 17.8% and 5.5%, respectively. In view of the influence of obesity on the occurrence of type 2 diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome, it was found that this association was not significant for the two conditions (p=0.014 and 0.017, respectively).

The findings demonstrate a high prevalence of overweight and obesity in the studied population, and metabolic syndrome in 4.3%, despite the fact that 70% reported engaging in regular physical activity.