Abstract

ORTIZ-HERNANDEZ, Luis  and  CRUZ-ANGELES, Laura Isabel. The relationship between the linear growth and the body composition in students of the Xochimilco county. Bol. Med. Hosp. Infant. Mex. [online]. 2005, vol.62, n.6, pp.428-442. ISSN 1665-1146.

Introduction. Objective: to known the nutritional status of students of the Xochimilco county, Mexico, and to analyze the relationship between the linear growth and the body composition. Material and methods. Cross-sectional, observational and analytic study, in which 972 students from Xochimilco county, Mexico, during the school year 2003-2004.The dependent variables were overweight (measured with the body mass index), obesity (triceps skin fold) and the centralized body fat (waist circumference). As independent variable was evaluated: age, sex, intrauterine and childhood growth, and socioeconomic status. By means of logistic regression the relationship between the independent and dependent variables was evaluate. Results. A positive association was found in the bivariate analysis of indicators of prenatal and childhood growth with indicators of body mass and corporal composition. After adjusting for possible confounders (sex, age and socioeconomic status), normal values of cephalic circumference associated with greater risk of overweight and distribution centralized, while the height-for-age index was related positively with the risk of obesity. Conclusions. A positive relation among childhood growth and overweight exists.

Keywords : Body mass index; body weight; obesity; fat body; growth; malnutrition; nutrition disorders; birth weight; schoolchildren.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )