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OBJECTIVE: To study risk factors associated with overweight and obesity among adolescents enrolled in private high schools in the city of Pelotas, southern Brazil. METHOD: This was a case-control study. The subjects were 264 overweight (body mass index (BMI) > or =85th percentile of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) reference population) and 264 non-overweight (BMI >5th and /=30 kg m(-2), being overweight before 10 years of age (OR 2.26, 95% Cl 1.30-3.90) and the habit of dieting (OR 3.53, 95% Cl 1.76-7.22). Having more than three meals per day was found to be a protective factor against overweight and obesity (OR 0.54, 95% Cl 0.29-1.00). CONCLUSION: The present study showed that a family history of obesity, overweight during childhood and the habit of dieting for weight-loss purposes are factors associated with obesity during adolescence. The habit of having more than three daily meals turned out to be a protective factor against overweight. These results suggest the necessity for early intervention at the family and general community levels aimed at the prevention of obesity through actions directed towards the modification of established behaviours.
Neutzling et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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