Abstract

Background: During childhood and adolescence, physical inactivity, excess weight, and poor nutrition are risk factors for chronic diseases, especially obesity, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. Early intervention can prevent the development of these complications. Objective: To determine the presence of cardiovascular risk (obesity and hypertension) in schoolchildren and its potential interactions with cardio-respiratory fitness. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in a stratified cluster sample of 1,666 schoolchildren, aged between 7 and 77 years, 873 (52.4%) of them male and 79.3 (47.6%) of them female. The following variables were evaluated: systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), body mass index (BMI), body fat percentage (BF %), and cardio-respiratory fitness. SBP and DBP were correlated with waist circumference (WC), waist-hip ratio (WHR), sum of skin folds (Sigma SF), and cardio-respiratory fitness. Results: A BMI assessment of the students showed that 26.7% of them were overweight or obese, and 35.9% had body fat percentage over moderately high. As to blood pressure, we found that 73.9% and 12.1% of the students were borderline or hypertensive, for SBP and DBP respectively There was an association among hypertension, obesity, and cardio-respiratory fitness. There was a significant correlation of SBP and DBP with all variables, and also a weak to moderate correlation with age, weight, height, BMI, and waist circumference. Conclusion: The presence of hypertension associated with obesity and its effects on cardio-respiratory fitness stress the importance of recommending, since childhood, a more active and healthy lifestyle. (Arq Bras Cardiol 2010;94(6): 739-744)