Introduction:

Obesity is considered a public health problem. In general, it tends to start from early ages. The World Health Organization has defined it as the epidemic of the 21st century due to the dimensions it has acquired in recent decades, and its impact on morbidity, mortality, in life quality, and its high sanitary cost. Since 1973, the incidence of obesity worldwide has increased three times.

Objective:

to characterize obesity and overweight behavior in children and adolescents aged less than 19 years, form the Family Medical Office 12 of the Teaching Polyclinic Héroes del Moncada, of Cardenas, in 2019.

Materials and methods:

a descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out in the period from June 2018 to June 2019. The universe was formed by 68 children aged 0-19 years, with antecedents of overweight and obesity.

Results:

the most affected age group was the one formed by children aged 0-4 years; both sexes behaved the same. Most of children did not exercised. The most consumed foods were sugar and carbohydrates. The genetic factor was present in all the participants.

Conclusions:

for preventing obesity in childhood, Cuba has a first health care level accessible to the whole population. The authors consider that this strength should be used, and more active work should be carried out with the family and the interaction of an interdisciplinary team integrated by nutritionists and graduated of Physical Education, to avoid this condition among children and youth.

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