Prevalência de alterações posturais em escolares de ensino médio de São Leopoldo (RS), Brasil

Abstract

Objectives to estimate the prevalence of lateral and antero-posterior postural alterations on female adolescents in the city of São Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in the year of 2004. Verify if socio-economic, demographic, anthropometric and behavioral factors are associated with those postural alterations. Methods School-based epidemiological investigation with a representative sample of 495 female students aged 14-18 years, who attend elementary night school and were evaluated from October to November 2004. Postural alterations were defined as alterations of the physiological curvatures of the vertebral column, identified through noninvasive postural evaluation. Results the prevalence of lateral postural alterations corresponded to 66% (CI95%: 61,5-70,0) and the antero-posterior postural alterations to 70% (CI95%: 65,2-73,5). The prevalence of lateral alterations was higher for the students with normal BMI (PR: 1,32; CI95%: 1,09-1,59) and for those who watched television for more than 10 hours a week