PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LEVEL EATING HABITS AND NUTRITIONAL STATUS IN SCHOOL ZONES URBAN AND RURAL PIRIPIRI-PI.

Abstract

Introduction: Overweight and obesity are among the most serious problems of rich countries and emerging countries. The problems arising directly or indirectly from obesity are responsible for a significant percentage of deaths. This study aims to verify and compare the level of physical activity (LPA), Food Habits (HA) and nutritional status, in students from urban and rural areas of the municipality of Piripiri-PI. Methods: Cross-sectional study of descriptive and quantitative type. To collect the anthropometric indicators, we used a handmade stadiometer and a digital scale; For verifying the physical activity level of students we used the IPAQ (short version); To evaluate the dietary habits was used a questionnaire validated by CIRILLO, 2008. For comparison between urban and rural groups used the chi-square test adopting the significance level of p <0.05. Results: Of 202 respondents 98 (48.51%) were residents of the rural area and 104 (51.49%) of the urban area. Regarding nutritional status, 41 students (20.3%) were overweight or obese, while 105 students (52%) had normal weight. According to the physical activity level of more than half of the students (50.5%) were considered to be active or very active, however most participants were declared as irregularly active (36.6%). In the case of eating habits, most students (46.5%) performs two to three daily meals. Conclusion: By analyzing students from urban and rural areas, there was a statistically significant difference when compared the nutritional status variables and number of meals a day, however, to the level of physical activity, did not find a statistically significant difference .