Rural characteristics associated with excess weight among adolescents

ABSTRACT Objective This study aimed to verify the association between rural characteristics and the nutritional status of adolescents from the rural area of Macaé, a municipality in Rio de Janeiro, Southeast Brazil. Methods This is a cross-sectional study based on secondary anthropometric data, collected at the Macaé Municipal Department of Education between 2013 and 2014. The database refers to the total number of adolescents in the only high school in the rural area of the city. Poisson logistic regression was performed, having excess weight (overweight or obesity- Body Mass Index-for-age equal to or greater than one Z-score) as the dependent variable, used dichotomously. The independent variables were sex, socioeconomic status and three “yes or no” variables that express rural characteristics. Results The adolescents (total=109) were between 14 and 18 years old (mean=16.6 years), 64.2% were girls, 52.3% had vegetable gardens or orchards in their household, 19.4% had animal breeding for consumption purposes and 17.6% had parents/guardians working in the agricultural sector. The prevalence of excess weight was 18.0% in boys and 20.0% in girls. Having a garden/orchard implied a significantly higher chance of having excess weight, both in the bivariate analysis and in the sex-adjusted model (Prevalence Ratio=2.95; Confidence Interval=1.17-7.44). Conclusions Based on a significant association at the municipal level, the results highlight nutritional differences between local and large-scale studies, as well as variations within the same rural area. These findings point out the need to evaluate rural aspects in more detail in studies on underlying determinants of nutritional status.