Prevalence and factors associated with overweight and obesity in children under five in Alagoas, Northeast of Brazil; a population-based study.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence and associated factors with overweight and obesity among children under five in the Alagoas state, Northeast of Brazil.

Design: Cross-sectional population-based study. The study was based on 1115 children with an average age of 24.7 months (SD ± 16.8), and 51.7% were female. Nutritional status was classified according to BMI / age. The z score > + 1 and ≤+2 z identified children with overweight and > + 2 z score identified those with obesity, according to the standard reference of World Health Organization. To identify the variables associated with overweight and obesity was performed Poisson regression analysis.

Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 23.9% and 7.8%, respectively, 33.8% for girls and 29.4% in boys. After adjustment, the per capita income equal to or greater than 2.5 times the minimum wage, age 6 to 23 months and mother overweight and obesity remained positively associated with overweight/obesity. On the other hand, it was observed negative association between low and insufficient birth weight with child overweight/ obesity.

Conclusions: The results show a similar prevalence of overweight and obesity to other studies in the country for children under five years, warning for possible impairment of adequate child growth and development .