[Prevalence and factors associated with abdominal obesity in a nationally representative sample of older adults (ELSI-Brasil)].

Abstract

The objectives were to evaluate the prevalence of abdominal obesity (total and by sex), associated sociodemographic and health characteristics, and the potential modifying effect of sex in older Brazilians. Cross-sectional data from 5,466 participants from the 2nd wave of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil, 2019-2021) were used. Abdominal obesity was defined by waist circumference (≥88cm for women and ≥102cm for men). The analyses were based on Poisson regression with robust variance and interaction terms. The prevalence of abdominal obesity was 55.1%, higher among women (71.5%) than among men (34.7%). After adjustments, the analyses revealed a positive association between abdominal obesity and multimorbidity, and negative associations between abdominal obesity and male gender, age ≥80 years, rural residence, and smoking. An interaction was observed between area of residence and gender (p-value = 0.002) and multimorbidity and gender (p-value = 0.007). The results reinforce the relevance of intersectoral actions in combating abdominal obesity, with integrated approaches that consider preventing and controlling chronic conditions in men and women.