title: Prevalence of overweight/obesity and economical status of schoolchildren.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To associate the nutritional status of elementary schoolchildren with their gender, age group, and economic status based on a cross-sectional study carried out at public schools in the municipality of Cruzeiro do Oeste, Southern Brazil.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was performed in 2010 including 939 schoolchildren aged six to ten years-old. The economical status of the families was classified based on a socioeconomic ranking questionnaire (Brazilian Association of Survey Companies), and the body mass index was calculated. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, and differences between independent groups were verified by Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests, while possible associations were verified by the chi-square test, being significant p<0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of obesity in the sample was 8.0%, and overweight, 16.4%. No association was found between the socioeconomic and nutritional status or between the nutritional status and gender.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A high prevalence of overweight and obesity was found in this study, indicating that children of both genders are affected regardless of their economical status and age.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação Física, Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM), Maringá, PR, Brasil. ana_paula_3005@yahoo.com.br
authors.forename: Ana Paula de O
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Azambuja
authors.forename: Edna Regina
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Netto-Oliveira
authors.forename: Amauri Aparecido B
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.forename: Maximiliano dos Anjos
authors.initials: Mdos A
authors.lastname: Azambuja
authors.forename: Wilson
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rinaldi
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors