Evaluación del riesgo nutricional de los adolescentes escolarizados en Cantabria

Objective: To analyse nutritional risk, by age and sex, among primary and secondary education adolescents from Cantabria. Methodology: a cross-sectional study was carried out, analysing a sample of 1101 adolescents: 568 (51.6%) were men and 533 (48.4%) were women, aged 12 to 17, attending 16 different primary and secondary education centres in Cantabria, by means of a Krece Plus questionnaire. Results: A high percentage of adolescents with a high nutritional risk (35%) can be observed. Men show a high nutritional risk slightly higher than women (37.8% h vs 32.1% m). Moreover, the high nutritional risk expe riences a notable increase as young people get older. Significant statistical differences can be seen both in male and female groups, and as a global group. In all three cases, the nutritional risk distribution in the youngest group is very similar (35.2-35.8% in h, 27.9-29.7% in m, 31.7-32.7% in the global group); whereas in elder adolescents, those values are practically doubled (57.1% in h, 69.0% in m, y 62.2% in the global group). Conclusions: Results are alarming mainly given the high percentage of adolescents with a high nutritional risk. Men and older adolescents are the groups in which high nutritional risk is more evident.