Prevalência de atividade física e fatores associados em adolescentes escolares do município de Itaqui/RS

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of physical activity and associated factors in school children aged between 13 and 19 years old from Itaqui municipality, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. It was executed a cross sectional study with teen students enrolled in public high school. Information regarding, sociodemographic, anthropometric and behavioral data (physical activity, questions referring to food and body satisfaction) were collected. The physical activity was evaluated by an instrument with questions about daily physical activities in travel and leisure referring to last seven days, excluding those practiced at school, being utilized as cut point 300 minutes to consider a teen enough active. The prevalence of insufficient physical activity in adolescents was 58.7%. Young females were physically more inactive comparing to male genre. The insufficient physical activity was inversely associated with the number of meals and satisfaction of body image. In addition, more than half of active teens reported physical activity with purpose of maintenance or weight loss. These results reinforce the need for the development of intervention mechanisms for the practice of physical activity in adolescence, mainly females.