Introduction:

Risk factors for being overweight and obesity in children and adolescents are multifactorial. Lack of physical activity and sedentary behaviors have been considered important risk factors.

Objective:

To establish the association between physical activity, as measured by the questionnaire of the Chilean Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA), and the nutritional status of adolescents aged 9 to 15 years, in a public educational institution .

Materials and Methods:

This was an observational, descriptive, cross-sectional, prospective study with an analytical component. Adolescents aged 9 to 15 years old from a public school in the city of San Lorenzo, Paraguay, were included. The study was conducted between September 14 and 16, 2015. The variables studied were: age, sex, body mass index (BMI) and physical activity. To determine the nutritional status, the Anthro Plus software was used to calculate the Z score of the World Health Organization (WHO). Physical activity was determined using the Chilean INTA questionnaire.

Results:

A total of 465 adolescents with a mean age of 11.7 ± 1.8 years were included. 57, 2% were girls and 42.8% were boys. The group with physical activity was 55.9%. In the group of low physical activity, the percentage of overweight and obesity was 46.3 and 23.6% respectively, compared with 3.1% and 0.8%, respectively, in the group of adolescents with physical activity (p <0 , 0005).

Conclusions:

Adolescents with low physical activity had significantly higher rates of being overweight and obesity, compared to the group that performed physical activity.

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