Excess weight affects more adults between 45 and 54 years old – 06/29/2023 – Health

More than half of the Brazilian population (56.8%) is overweight, an increase of almost 10% compared to 2022, when the prevalence was 52.6%, show data from a national survey released this Thursday (29). ).

Adults between 45 and 54 years old account for the highest prevalence: 68.5% of them are overweight or obese. Next are young people between 18 and 24 years old, with 40.3% of them having a BMI (body mass index) equal to or above 25 kg/cm².

The data are from Covitel 2023 (Telephone Survey of Risk Factors for Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases in Times of Pandemic) developed by Vital Strategies, a global public health organization, and by UFPel (Federal University of Pelotas), with funding from Umane and support from Abrasco (Brazilian Association of Collective Health).

According to the survey, 26.6% of Brazilians had a diagnosis of hypertension, with higher prevalence among women (30.8%), over 65 years old (62.5%) and those with up to eight years of schooling (38%). Among the more educated, with 12 years or more of study, the prevalence drops to less than half, with 15.6% of hypertensive individuals.

For Pedro Hallal, professor at UFPel and one of the coordinators of the survey, this is a reflection of the combination of inadequate diet and insufficient practice of physical activity.

“When we look at the Brazilian epidemiological picture 20 years ago, obesity was something that happened more in the richest families. This is reversing over time. In the United States and Mexico, obesity is much higher among the poorest. Brazil is copying this model”, he says.

For him, obesity and physical inactivity are the great villains of public health in this century, they represent a great challenge for governments around the world and there is much to be done in terms of public policies.

“You can explore the issue of bicycle paths, closing streets on weekends, you can make popular gyms, leisure and inclusive sports programs”, he says.

Hypertensive for over 20 years and with a kidney problem, retired civil servant Sandra Lopes Ribeiro, 72, weighed 151 kg. She underwent treatment at the Municipal Public Servant Hospital, in São Paulo, and eliminated 57 kg. In the Covid-19 pandemic, she recovered almost 20 kg and today she is around 120 kg.

Before the pandemic, she says she was very active. She walked and walked a lot. The threat of contracting the coronavirus has locked her at home. Now, she started a routine with exercises and therapy in an Ursi (Health Reference Unit for the Elderly).

Sandra says that she also received guidance on weight control and food and that she gave up soft drinks, sausages and sausages. By her own decision, she states that she no longer dines.

“For a nutritionist it’s wrong not to have dinner, but I got used to it. Until six o’clock in the afternoon, if I feel like it, I have soup and later chamomile tea or lemon balm with a cookie. But I’m still sinning on the blessed sweet. what I need to improve.”

Sandra’s situation is illustrated by the Covitel data, which show a high prevalence of hypertension and diabetes, especially among the elderly and those with less schooling.

The scenario is similar to diabetes. While in the general population the rate is 10.3%, in people over 65 it is 26.2%, and among those with zero to eight years of study, 15.7%.

Lawyer Neusa Camargo, 77, entered the statistics of hypertensive Brazilians this Thursday afternoon (29), during a consultation with the medicine and family team at the Professor Samuel Barnsley Pessoa School Health Center, at the USP Faculty of Medicine.

“I have a check-up once a year. It’s strange that you want to have a check-up at the SUS. People only come here when everything is wrong and there’s no other way. They don’t know how to use the SUS”, he says.

Neusa told the report that she takes care of food and intends to resume her exercise routine from before the Covid-19 pandemic, at the gym.

The discovery of hypertension did not scare the lawyer. “As I’ve always done prevention, I knew that it would be natural for me to start having something after a certain time. It’s the first time I’m going to take a medicine against hypertension.”

Regarding food, the patient does not see the need for changes. “God made everything right with me. I don’t like sweets, bread, pasta. I really like barbecue, fruits, vegetables and greens.”

According to Luciana Sardinha, senior manager at Vital Strategies and one of Covitel’s coordinators, the data show that there was no increase in these diseases compared to the pre-pandemic period, which may reveal a backlog of cases.

An even more serious situation, she says, are the cases that are already known and which are not under control. Data from Previne Brasil, a program created in the first year of Jair Bolsonaro’s (PL) administration and which changed the way primary care is financed, show that more than 80% of Brazilian municipalities do not reach targets for controlling diabetes and hypertension.

“Municipalities need to have the necessary tools to know and monitor their users in a simple way”, says Thais Junqueira, general superintendent of Umane.

For Pedro Hallal, it is also important to invest in pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments, such as walking groups for diabetics and hypertensives and food reeducation.

“They even exist in many basic health units, but not as an expanded public policy. It is not disseminated in all UBS as it should be”, he explains.

According to him, access to medicines to keep these conditions under control, especially for the low-income population, has also become more difficult in recent years with the shortage of essential medicines in the Popular Pharmacy Program.

Hallal and Sardinha also draw attention to the challenge of patient adherence to treatments for chronic diseases.

“If I have a headache, I take a paracetamol and it solves the problem. Hypertension and diabetes often do not show symptoms, and people do not take or stop taking medicine. If they do not have access, it is even worse because they will have than choosing between buying medicine or food for the family”, says Hallal.