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

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.