Fatores de risco comportamentais para doenças cardiovasculares entre adolescentes da zona urbana de Pelotas, RS.

Abstract

The study aimed to describe the prevalence of behavioral risk factors (CRF) for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and factors associated with their accumulation among adolescents in the urban area of Pelotas, RS. A cross-sectional, school-based census study, with a sample of 808 schoolchildren enrolled in the 9th year of the 25 municipal schools in the urban area of Pelotas. The CRF investigated were: physical inactivity; irregular consumption of fruits and vegetables; experimentation with alcohol and tobacco and being overweight. The study outcome was a clustering score of 3 or more FRC. Experimenting with alcohol was the most prevalent CRF (73.6%) followed by physical inactivity (53.6%) and irregular consumption of fruits and vegetables (50.5%). As for crowding, 41.1% of adolescents had at least 3 FRC and only 4.8% of the sample reported having none. Analyzes between exposure and outcome variables showed a significant association for sex, with boys showing a 40% higher risk of having three or more risk factors when compared to girls (PR=1.4, p<0.001) both in the crude and not adjusted. Both the presence of CRF and the agglomeration of these were presented with high prevalence, demonstrating the early exposure of adolescents from schools in the urban area of Pelotas to CVD, evidencing the need for actions that promote health-related activities such as encouraging the practice of physical activity, good eating habits and prevention of alcohol and tobacco use.