Obesity and metabolic syndrome in children in Brazil: The challenge of lifestyle change.

The purpose of this observational study was to examine the prevalence of obesity in children of 6 to 8 years of age from primary public schools over a period of 6 years and the associated environmental and metabolic health risk factors.This was a cohort observational study to investigate the prevalence of obesity in children from 14 state primary schools in Vinhedo, Sao Paulo state. Environmental and metabolic health risk factors for obesity were investigated in a cross-sectional survey.This present study revealed 74.0% of children with obesity consumed fried foods and sweets at school, and 84.0% consumed snacks and soft drinks at home. This cohort reported to have engaged in physical activity for less than 3 hours per week at school (93.0%) and at home (85.0%). There was a high prevalence of increased waist circumference and insulin resistance among children with obesity (84.9% and 84.5%, respectively). The body mass index had a significant Spearman correlation with waist circumference, insulin resistance, and triglycerides.Childhood obesity was associated with a high prevalence of both environmental and metabolic risk factors. Also, the authors conclude that the lack of parents' awareness of childhood obesity and its risk factors represents a substantial barrier to lifestyle counseling.

Cardiac autonomic dysfunction in elderly women with myocardial infarction.

AIMS: Elderly women with myocardial infarction (MI) show poorer outcomes than men. In patients with MI, reduced heart rate variability (HRV) is associated with an increased risk of mortality. Thus, we aimed to investigate HRV in elderly women with MI. METHODS: HRV indexes in women 50 years of age or older were compared to those in age-adjusted men with MI: geometric (triangular index), linear (low frequency [LF, ms(2)], high frequency [HF, ms(2)], standard deviation (SD) of normal R-R wave intervals [SDNN], square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of differences between adjacent normal R wave intervals [RMSSD]) and nonlinear Poincaré analysis [SD1 and SD2, ms]. RESULTS: Women had higher MI recurrence than men (11% vs. 5% with two MIs; 6% vs. 1% with three MIs). Overall HRV, the triangular index and SDNN were considerably lower in women than men (3.1 [2.5-4.4] vs. 4.5 [3.2-5.9] and 9.3 [6.9-15.8] vs. 19.2 [11.4-26.4] respectively; p < 0.001). Moreover, HRV indexes (HF, LF/HF, RMSSD, and SD1) were significantly lower in women (62.2%, 55.6%, 37.1%, and 37.2% respectively; p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that elderly women with MI may have a worse prognosis than men, indicated by cardiac autonomic dysfunction. Since our study is cross-sectional and cannot infer causality, causation should be confirmed in further longitudinal studies.