ARE THE HABITUAL PRACTICE OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, DIETARY HABITS, ANTHROPOMETRIC INDICATORS, AND AUTONOMIC MODULATION ASSOCIATED WITH THE PREVALENCE OF HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE?

ABSTRACT Objective: To analyze the prevalence and association between high blood pressure, general and abdominal obesity, indicators of autonomic activity, habitual physical activity, and dietary habits in public schools in Londrina / PR. Methods: 189 subjects were evaluated (75 males and 114 females), 10-17 years. Assessment of habitual physical activity and dietary habits was performed. Anthropometric measurements were performed, in addition to measurement of resting blood pressure and heart rate variability. The chi-square test was used to assess associations between blood pressure (dependent variable) and other variables. Those that were significantly associated were submitted to Poisson regression to identify the magnitude of the association. Results: Individuals with "abdominal obesity" were 2.3 times more likely (P = 0.002) to present high blood pressure. Conclusion: Individuals with abdominal obesity are approximately twice as likely to have high blood pressure, independent of obesity levels, which in turn, are not associated with increased blood pressure.