OBJECTIVE:
To verify changes in overweight and associated factors in women aged 10 to 49 years from the state of Pernambuco in 1997 and 2006.
METHODS:
This population-based cross-sectional study used a probabilistic sample of women representative of the urban and rural areas of Pernambuco: 1,105 in 1997 and 1,464 in 2006. Body mass index-for-age was used for women aged 10 to 19 years; women with Z-score <-2 were considered underweight; women with -2 < Z-score <1 were considered normal weight; women with 1<Z-score <2 were considered overweight; and women with Z-score < 2 were considered obese. Women aged more than 19 years were considered underweight when body mass index <18.5; normal weight when 18.5 < body mass index <24.9; overweight when 25.0 < body mass index <29.9; and obese when body mass index >30 kg/m2. Poisson regression assessed the association between excess weight and the explanatory variables.
RESULTS:
In Pernambuco overweight and obesity rates increased significantly, and underweight rate remained stable between 1997 and 2006. Overweight increased from 32.8% in 1997 to 41.7% in 2006, an increase of 27.1%. Women from the metropolitan region of Recife, and urban and rural areas of the state presented an increase in overweight of 40.2%, 6.8%, and 45.2%, respectively. The overweight-related factors that remained significant in 2006 after adjustment were: having three or more home appliances, low education level (four or fewer years of formal education), more pregnancies, and higher age, in contrast to the 1997 study where overweight was associated with having had more pregnancies and having higher age.
CONCLUSION:
Excess body weight in women of childbearing age in the state of Pernambuco, increased significantly, with the lowest decreased seen in urban areas outside the state capital. In the categories of more favorable socioeconomic and microenvironment conditions, the increment of excess weight clearly slows down.
Cross-sectional studies; Women; Obesity; Prevalence; Overweight
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