Obesidade em idosos: prevalência, distribuição e associação com hábitos e co-morbidades

TLDR: In this article, the prevalence of global and central obesity through the body mass index (BMI) and the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) was evaluated as the risk factors related to the excess of body fat and to the central pattern of distribution of fat, such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, low levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), hypertriglyceridaemia, smoking, practice of physical activities, and social level.

Abstract: Objective: The goal was to define the prevalence of global and central obesity through the body mass index (BMI) and the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Besides, the associations between BMI and WHR were evaluated as the risk factors related to the excess of body fat and to the central pattern of distribution of fat, such as diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, low levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), hypertriglyceridaemia, smoking, practice of physical activities, and social level. Methodology: Through a cross-sectional study, 847 outpatients 60 years old or more were evaluated. Results: Obesity was detected in 9.3% of the men and 23.8% of the women (p = percentile 75 (WHR> 1.01 for men and WHR> 0.96 for women) presented higher frequencies of hypertension, DM, low HDL-c, and hypertriglyceridaemia in the male and hypertension and DM in the female. Conclusions: The results reveal differences in relation to sex, with men presenting lower prevalence of obesity and higher associations between BMI or WHR, with risk factors related to the body fat. The data obtained contribute to the amplification of the anthropometric reference of the elderly, besides identifying the characteristics of the correlations between the anthropometric indicators and the metabolic alterations associated with obesity.