[Obesity: body constitution, activity, or education?]

Obesity is highly prevalent in many countries. Obese people have higher prevalence in many chronic degenerative diseases, psycopathology and social problems. Little information, however, is usually available on how is the behavior of obesity at community level.

To evaluate prevalence of obesity in Pelotas city (RS), and to identify factors associated with obesity.

This population-based survey measured the frequency of obesity and his risk factors in a mid-sized Brazilian city by studying a cluster sample of 1657 adults aged 20-69 years. The independent variables studied were: sex, color of the skin, age in years, physical activity, pattern of alcohol consumption, cigarette smoke habit, scholarity and social class. Queletet index at the cut point of 30.0 kg/m2 was adopted to define obesity according the World Health Organization recommendation.

Obesity prevalence of 15.3% in men and 23.2% between women was encountered in this sample. All studied variables showed some influence on Quetelet index except the color of the skin. Among the studied factors low level of scholarity seems to be most important determinant of obesity after multivariate analysis.

The high prevalence of obesity is associated with advanced age, female gender and low level of scholarity. The possibility of intervention makes the last one more important than the first and second. Other studies about obesity are needed in order to produce a better understanding of the problem.