Prevalence of overweight among adolescent students attending public technical schools during the COVID-19 pandemic
an analysis of the disease associated factors
Keywords:
Adolescent behavior, Cross-sectional Studies, Food, processed, Nutritional status, Screen timeAbstract
Objective
Identify factors associated with excess weight in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods
Cross-sectional study with 302 students from an integrated high school/technical education unit. A digital questionnaire was used with questions about time spent on screens, amount of sleep hours (Mini Sleep Questionnaire), eating habits in front of a screen, food consumption, physical activity, socioeconomic variables and obesity in parents. In order to assess nutritional status, weight and height were used as informed by the respondents. Descriptive statistics and regression analyses were produced to identify factors associated with excess weight, defined as BMI Z-score≥1.0.
Results
Excess weight was present in 28.5% of the students and obesity (BMI Z-score≥2.0) in 8.9%. Four out of ten students reported eating their main meal in front of the screen every day of the week; 87.7% had poor sleep quality and 29.9% slept less than 7 hours/night. Only 29.8% performed the daily physical activity recommendation. Those in the 3rd tertile of total screen time tripled the chance of being overweight (OR=3.35, 95% CI=1.62-6.89) and eating meals in front of screens 5 or more days/week multiplied that chance by 3.25 (OR=3.25; 95% CI=1.63-6.49. Having the mother with low education was a protective factor for being overweight (OR=0.37; 95% CI=0.16-0.84).
Conclusion
Even during the pandemic period, students with more screen time and those who regularly ate meals in front of a screen were more likely to be overweight, confirming the negative role of these factors on adolescents’ nutritional status.
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