IBGE survey shows increased obesity among adults

Interviewees in the survey responded about primary health care

Burger eat food fastfood, Representative Image

Oct 25, The proportion of obese people in the population aged 20 or over more than doubled in the country between 2003 and 2019, from 12.2% to 26.8%. During this period, female obesity rose from 14.5% to 30.2%, while male obesity went from 9.6% to 22.8%.

The data are from the second volume of the National Health Survey 2019, released on Wednesday (21), by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The survey sample involved 108 thousand households in Brazil.

Another data shows that, in 2019, one in four people 18 years of age or older in Brazil was obese, the equivalent of 41 million people. Overweight, on the other hand, reached 60.3% of the population aged 18 or over, corresponding to 96 million people, 62.6% of women and 57.5% of men.

The prevalence of overweight increases with age and exceeds 50% in the age group 25 to 39 years old. In this age group, the proportion of overweight is slightly higher in males (58.3%) than in females (57.0%). However, in the other age groups, the percentages of overweight were higher among women.

Body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 is considered to be overweight. The obese person has a BMI greater than 30. BMI is calculated by weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters.

According to the person responsible for the research, the IBGE technician, Flávia Vinhaes, to improve this scenario, it is necessary to expand policies aimed at preventing and combating obesity. "There is a lack of structured public policies to combat obesity and overweight, such as encouraging healthy food intake and sports," he said.

Malnutrition

Regarding the prevalence of weight deficit in adults aged 18 years and over, the rate was 1.6%, being 1.7% for men and 1.5% for women. The value was well below the 5% limit set by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an indicator of exposure of the adult population to malnutrition.

Primary health care

For the first time, the studies provide information on Primary Health Care and visits by health agents to their homes. According to the survey, in 2019, 17.3 million people sought some primary health care service. Of this total, 69.9% were women, 60.9% of people were black or brown, 65.0% had spouses, and 35.8% were between 40 and 59 years old.

Another data reveals that 94.4% of the people interviewed did not have health insurance. The data also show that 53.8% of primary care users did not have a job, with 64.7% having per capita household income below one minimum wage and 32.3%, ranging from 1 to 3 minimum wages.

Quality of Primary Care

Through a questionnaire applied to residents aged 18 years or older who had at least two visits to the same doctor in Basic Health Units or Family Health Units, information about Primary Health Care was verified.

The questionnaires received values ​​that were used to calculate the general score for Primary Health Care ranging from 0 to 10. The general score obtained in the survey in Brazil was 5.9, determining the quality of care. It was stipulated that a score equal to or greater than 6.6 points to the excellent quality of primary health care.

Men scored primary health care at 5.9 and women at 5.8. In the 18 to 39 age group, the score was 5.6. Among people aged 60 and over, at 6.1. People who do not work scored 5.9 and employed 5.8.

According to the person responsible for the research, Flávia Vinhaes still has no parameters to define whether the result is positive. “As this is the first time that the IBGE has made this type of assessment, we still do not have a way to assess whether or not there has been an improvement in this score. We are now working on a baseline that is 5.9 ”, he explained.

Continue reading more from the below Tags-