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BIBTEX RIS

Health in early adulthood: the contribution of the 1978/79 Ribeirão Preto birth cohort

2006; Associação Brasileira de Divulgação Científica; Volume: 39; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1590/s0100-879x2006000800007

1414-431X

Marco Antônio Barbieri, Heloísa Bettiol, Antônio Augusto Moura da Silva, Viviane Cunha Cardoso, Vanda Maria Ferreira Simões, Manoel Romeu Pereira Gutierrez, Juliana Castro, Élcio Oliveira Vianna, Maria Cristina Foss‐Freitas, J.E. Dos Santos, R.G.P. Queiroz,

Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare

The increase in non-communicable chronic diseases of adults is due to demographic changes and changes in the risk factors related to physical activity, smoking habits and nutrition. We describe the methodology for the evaluation of persons at 23/25 years of age of a cohort of individuals born in Ribeirão Preto in 1978/79. We present their socioeconomic characteristics and the profile of some risk factors for chronic diseases. A total of 2063 participants were evaluated by means of blood collection, standardized questionnaires, anthropometric and blood pressure measurements, and methacholine bronchoprovocation tests. The sexes were compared by the chi-square test, with alpha = 0.05. Obesity was similar among men and women (12.8 and 11.1%); overweight was almost double in men (30.3 vs 17.7%). Weight deficit was higher among women than among men (8.6 and 2.6%). Women were more sedentary and consumed less alcohol and tobacco. Dietary fat consumption was similar between sexes, with 63% consuming large amounts (30 to 39.9 g/day). Metabolic syndrome was twice more frequent among men than women (10.7 vs 4.8%), hypertension was six times more frequent (40.9 vs 6.4%); altered triglyceride (16.1 vs 9.8%) and LDL proportions (5.4 vs 2.7%) were also higher in men, while women had a higher percentage of low HDL (44.7 vs 39.5%). Asthma and bronchial hyper-responsiveness were 1.7 and 1.5 times more frequent, respectively, among women. The high prevalence of some risk factors for chronic diseases among young adults supports the need for investments in their prevention.