Food consumption changes among teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The present study aimed to analyze changes in food consumption among teachers of state schools in Minas Gerais in the context of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This is a cross-sectional study of teachers at elementary, middle, and high schools in Minas Gerais. An online questionnaire was made available to all participants through the Google Forms platform. For the analysis, sociodemographic, economic, occupational profile, health conditions, and behavioral/habitual variables were used. Food consumption was assessed through the weekly frequency of eating foods considered healthy and unhealthy before and during the pandemic. The changes observed in the frequency were classified as: decreased intake, no change in intake, and increased intake during the pandemic. Statistical analysis was performed using bivariate and multiple analysis using the Multinomial Logistics Regression model. The data were tabulated with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 18.0. A total of 15,641 teachers participated in this study, with an average age of 42.96 (±9.27) years, and most of them were female (81.9%). During the pandemic, approximately 40% reported altered sleep quality and alcohol consumption, and lack of physical activity with 60.4% of the professionals categorized as overweight. During this period, there was an increase in the consumption of sweets (19.5%), soft drinks (13.3%), sausages (12.0%), frozen foods (8.9%), salty foods (6.3%), vegetables (13.1%), fruits (12.6%), and wholegrain products (8.3%). In the regression analysis, several factors were found to be associated with changes in teachers' food consumption in a bidirectional way when associated with variables related to sociodemographic characteristics, occupational profile, general health, and lifestyle.

A Comparison of the Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome According to Different Definitions in Climacteric Women.

Background: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) varies according to the different definitions available for clinical practice. The study aimed to estimate and compare the prevalence of MS according to the definitions of the American Heart Association (AHA)/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHBI), International Diabetes Federation (IDF), and Joint Interim Statement (JIS) in a sample of climacteric women in Brazil. Methods: A population-based cross-sectional study, using a probabilistic sampling by clusters, involved 874 climacteric women. Clinical and anthropometric variables were acquired while fasting, and MS was defined according to three recommendations. To define the agreement between different definitions on MS, we calculated the sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of MS based on AHA/NHBI and IDF in relationship to the JIS definition. Results: The prevalence of MS was 56.9% according to the AHA/NHBI definition, 61.6% by the IDF, and 64.8% by the JIS definition, without statistical significance. When prevalence of MS was stratified by climacteric stages, the ability of the different definitions identifying MS was also similar among groups. It was observed that the MS definition proposed by AHA/NHBI identified 87.4% of MS cases from the total cases diagnosed by JIS, with agreement levels by the Kappa index of 0.835. The IDF detected 95.3% of MS cases compared to the JIS definition and the agreement level was 0.934. Conclusions: The study indicates a high prevalence of MS in climacteric women regardless of the definition used (AHA/NHBI, IDF e JIS). We did not observe significant divergences between definitions.