[Physical growth in schoolchildren from Florianópolis, Santa Catarina State, Brazil: a case-control study].
This study was undertaken using a case-control, prevalence survey design, aimed at verifying the effects of socioeconomic, environmental, and biological/morbidity variables on the growth of schoolchildren from low-income families. The study focused on schoolchildren whose height/age (H/A) ratio was < or = 2SD (NCHS). Control groups were paired according to sex into two groups: C1, whose H/A ratio was between -1SD (NCHS) and the median, and C2, with the H/A ratio > median to +1 SD (NCHS). The Mantel-Haenszel test was used to verify each variable with regard to the H/A ratio, while non-conditional multivariate analysis was used to identify which of the variable blocks had a significant effect and, in the following stage, to identify the variables with a significant effect within each block. In the first stage, the variables with a significant effect for C1 were socioeconomic. For C2, socioeconomic, environmental, and morbidity/biological variables were significant. In the final model, the remaining significant variables for C1 were socioeconomic, while those for C2 were socioeconomic and morbidity/biological. The authors conclude that socioeconomic variables are hierarchically superior to other risk factors.
Departamento de Nutrição, Centro de Ciências Sociais, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, SC, 88040-900, Brasil. actcorso@intercorp.com.br
A C
AC
Corso
K O
KO
Buralli
J M
JM
Souza
D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology*; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D015362:Child Nutrition Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors