Abstract:
The study aimed to estimate the prevalence of health indicators among adolescents in São Luís, Maranhão State, Brazil, in 2016. The analysis included sociodemographic conditions, life habits, body composition, sleep quality, physical activity, cognitive performance, and suicide risk in 2,515 adolescents 18 to 19 years of age. The adolescents belonged to the 1997/1998 birth cohort or were included retrospectively using the SINASC (Brazilian Information System on Live Births) database. The adolescents were mainly from economic class C (50.1%), 69.5% were in school, 40.3% were working, and 25.2% were neither studying nor working; 60.3% had been robbed, and 48.7% had parents who were separated or divorced; 19.4% showed harmful or excessive alcohol consumption or probable addiction, 19.1% had used or were using illicit drugs, 53.7% reported poor sleep quality, 40.8% reported frequent headaches, 34.3% reported more than five hours of daily screen time, and 4.1% showed high suicide risk. Prevalence of high blood pressure was 12%, and 6% were obese. Girls were more physically inactive (80.7%) and showed greater percentage of high (15.8%) and very high body fat (21.5%), while boys showed greater prevalence of high blood pressure (21.2%) and lower prevalence of physical inactivity (40.9%). High prevalence rates of health risk factors increase the adolescents’ vulnerability, exposing these individuals earlier to factors leading to diseases and other health problems.
Keywords:
Adolescent; Social Vulnerability; Nutritional Status; Mental Disorders; Sleep