Simultaneidade de fatores de risco para doenças crônicas em adolescentes escolares da cidade de Santa Maria - RS.

Abstract

Chronic diseases are responsible for two to three deaths in the world. However, to date, few studies investigated the cluster and correlates of risk factorsfor chronic diseases in adolescents. Purpose: To evaluate the clustering of the following risk factors: unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, overweight and high blood pressure. The association between clusterof risk factors and sociodemographic variables was further explored. Methods: Cross-sectional, school-based, study. We used a multistage sampling, stratified bytype of school, city region and grade, comprising 1,142 students (14-19 years old). For data collection a questionnaire was used, as well as anthropometric and bloodpressure measurements. The cluster index was created as the sum of the studied risk factors. The observed/expected ratio was calculated in the analysis of differentcombinations explored. For the correlates analysis, a multinomial logistic regression was used. Results: Prevalence of individual risk factors studied was as follows: 85.8% unhealthy diets, 53.5% physical inactivity, 31.3% high blood pressure, 23.9%overweight, 22.3% excessive drinking alcohol and 8.6% smoking. Only 2.8% of the adolescents did not presented any risk factor, while 21.7%, 40.9%, 23.1% and 11.5% presented one, two, three and four or more risk factors, respectively. The most prevalent combination was between unhealthy diets and physical inactivity, occurring 32% above than expected. Clustering of risk factors was similar between boys and girls, but was directly associated with age and inversely associated with socioeconomic status. Conclusions: Clustering of risk factors for chronic diseases is high in Brazilian adolescents. Preventive strategies are more likely to be successful if focusing on multiple risk factors, instead of single one.