Anthropometric evaluation of elementary school students in a private school in Manaus, AM, Brazil

Abstract

Physical School Education should critically integrate daily practices with the adoption of a healthy lifestyle in students. Thus, the teacher should teach the students health-related factors and the basis of the assessment of nutritional status. In this context, the objective of this article was to evaluate the nutritional status of the students using the body mass index (BMI), the body adiposity index (BAI) and the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) of elementary school students of a private school in Manaus, as a pedagogical resource for teaching learning about the knowledge of the body by students, and as a basis for the development of a school health promotion program. During Physical Education classes, height, body mass, and waist and hip circumferences were measured; besides identification of sex and age; for further calculation and descriptive statistical analysis of BMI, IAC, WHR and Nutritional Status classification of 180 students aged 9 to 17 years of both sexes. BMI revealed eutrophy in 60.5% of schoolchildren, overweight in 20% and obesity in 15%, while the IAC indicated 50% eutrophic; 23.9% overweight; and 25% obese. The results indicate the prevalence of overweight and obesity, especially in 10- and 11-year-old male students, who served as a starting point for the critical analysis of students regarding their eating habits and physical activity.