Autopercepção de saúde entre adolescentes matriculados em escolas públicas de Juiz de Fora/MG

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Adolescence is characterized by the transition from childhood to adulthood, marked by physical changes and emotional, sexual and social development, which demands attention from the family and society, as well as strategic actions by health managers. Self-perception of health is used as an important indicator of public health, being obtained in a simple and direct way, which allows knowing the global state of health of a given population, relating physical, cognitive and emotional aspects. The application of this indicator in the study with the adolescent population provides significant information to expand scientific knowledge about this part of the population, in addition to allowing the design of more effective health policies. OBJECTIVES: To know the self-perception of health and related factors of adolescents between 14 and 19 years of age, students from public schools in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais. METHODS: This is an observational, cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical epidemiological study. Anthropometric measurements, biochemical tests and the application of questionnaires applied by a trained examiner and self-administered questionnaires were performed to obtain the data. Data analysis was based on the proposal of a Hierarchical Conceptual Model that explains the relationships between the variables and the outcome studied. From the model, statistical analyzes of bivariate and multiple hierarchical logistic regression were performed. The interpretation of the results through the identification of the statistically significant association was given by p<0.05. The Hosmer Lemeshow test was used to assess the consistency of the adjustment of the final model (considering the adjustment adequate when p>0.05) and the analysis of explanatory power was analyzed by Nagelkerke R Square. RESULTS: Of the 835 adolescents evaluated, 57.5% were female, 62% declared themselves to be black or mixed-race, more than 75% of respondents were classified in middle economic class, and 70% reported that they perceived their health positively (good or very good). The factors that were significantly associated with the adolescents' self-perception of health were daily tobacco consumption (OR= 0.614; 95%CI 0.440-0.856), sedentary behavior – sitting time on the weekend (OR= 0.998; 95%CI 0.440-0.856) and participation in physical education classes at school (OR=2.876; 95%CI 1.145-7.226), food quality 9 (OR=1.908; 95%CI 1.258-2.893), sleep quality (OR= 0.854; 95%CI 0.757-0963), regular use of medication (OR= 2.633; 95%CI 1.168-5.936), body satisfaction (OR= 0.194; 95%CI 0.077-0.490), and parents' health perception (OR= 1.802; 95%CI 1,103-2,944). CONCLUSION: The present study showed that environmental and individual processes influence the perception that adolescents have of their own health, corroborating other studies that demonstrate that healthy behaviors are associated with a greater chance of evaluating health positively among adolescents. As this is a cross-sectional study, it is impossible to indicate a temporal relationship between the variables, that is, cause and effect relationships are not feasible in this type of study design. The use of new methodological approaches is necessary for the expansion of knowledge about adolescents' self-perception of health and associated factors, which will make it possible to detail fundamental aspects of this public's life and health.