Are postnatal nutritional insult indicators risk factors for metabolic syndrome and obesity?

Abstract

The objective was to associate postnatal chronic malnutrition with metabolic syndrome, abdominal obesity and overweight. A cross-sectional population-based study was carried out in 251 residents of a rural community, Virgem das Graças, located at the Jequitinhonha Valley, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Short stature and sitting-height-to-stature-ratio were the variables used as postnatal nutritional insult indicators. Short stature prevalence was 31.9%, as well as metabolic syndrome 21.5%, abdominal obesity 26.7% and overweight 25.5%. A significant association between high sitting-height-to-stature-ratio and overweight was found (OR = 7.46; CI 95% 1.59-34.81), which shows that individuals who have longer upper body segment proportion present a higher chance of developing overweight.