Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 26, 2026
Breakfast Habits among Schoolchildren in the City of Uruguaiana, Brazil
Published on: July 29, 2020
Association between nutritional status and health perception among participants of the Academida da Saúde Program: a
Tatiane Moreira Alves Garcia1, Maria Cecília Ramos de Carvalho1, Aline Cristine Souza Lopes1
1Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Belo HorizonteMG Brazil.
Objective:
To analyze the association between nutritional status and health perception among participants of the Health Academy Program (Programa Academia da Saúde) in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Methods:
A cross-sectional study using baseline data from a randomized controlled community trial conducted with a representative sample of the Program. Individuals aged 20 years or older answered a questionnaire including sociodemographic variables, self-reported morbidities, and health perception, and had their nutritional status assessed. For data presentation, absolute and relative frequencies and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were used. Regression adjustments were performed to assess the association between nutritional status (underweight or normal weight, overweight, and obesity) and health perception (good or very good, and very poor, poor, or fair), and odds ratios (OR) with 95%CI were used as measures of association.
Results:
Of the 3,264 participants, 2,827 (88.0%) were women and 1,931 (56.6%) were adults; 1,352 (41.4%) were overweight, and 944 (28.9%) had obesity; 1,730 (53.0%) reported hypertension, 1,433 (44.3%) dyslipidemia, and 548 (16.8%) diabetes. Regarding health perception, 2,358 (72.3%) respondents rated their health as good or very good. Individuals with obesity were found to have 47.0% higher odds of reporting very poor, poor, or fair health perception compared to their counterparts.
Conclusion:
Obesity was associated with poorer health perception among participants in the Health Academy Program.
