[Secular trends of weight in Portugal at the end of the 20th century]. / Tendências do peso em Portugal no final do século XX. Estudo de coorte de jovens do sexo masculino.

Obesity and the associated mortality and morbidity constitute one of the major problems and challenges for Public Health systems in Western countries. The majority of published studies show a progressive increase of obesity prevalence, that assumes even an higher importance in younger groups. This study aims to assess the trends in height, weight and body mass index (BMI) in young men in Portugal, in the last ten years. We extracted data from military census records of medical inspections 1994-95 (81,363 subjects) and 1998-99 (71,254 subjects). The data included recruitment center, age, weight, height and BMI. The results showed an increase of weight, height and body mass index between 1995 and 1999 (p<0.001). In 1995 the percentage of subjects with a BMI equal or higher than 25 was 15% and in 1999 was 22%. The percentage of subjects with a BMI higher than 30 was 1.4% and 2.3%, respectively. According to these results obesity and overweight prevention programs and therapeutic strategies must continue to be a major issue in health politics.