Trends and association of BMI between sociodemographic and living conditions variables in the Brazilian elderly: 2002/03-2008/09.

This study aimed to describe BMI's short-term trends and analyze the association between the Body Mass Index (BMI) and the sociodemographic variables and variables of family perception of the sufficiency and type of food consumed by Brazilian elderly of both sexes. The authors used data from the Household Budget Surveys (HBS) collected by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in 2002/03 and 2008/09. The prevalence of overweight and obesity increased, whereas normal and low weight decreased. Multinomial regression models were used for 2008/09 to analyze the association between BMI and sociodemographic variables and variables of family perception of the sufficiency and type of food intake. Income and age were more associated with BMI. We suggest that health and nutrition prevention and monitoring measures be implemented through public policies, considering multifactorial overweight in the Brazilian elderly.