Introduction:

Excess weight in adolescents is one of the most frequent health problems worldwide, being attributed to social, family and lifestyle factors, which, if not modified, could generate physical, social, psychological and economic repercussions.

Objective:

To determine the relation between sociodemographic, physical activity and sedentary behaviors with the excess weight of adolescents (13 to 17 years old) in the Los Santanderes region of Colombia.

Materials and methods:

Analytical cross-sectional study, from a secondary source, from data from the National Survey of the Nutritional Situation in Colombia (Ensin 2015) on physical activity, sedentary lifestyle and its relationship with excess weight in adolescents teenagers in the region of Santanderes, Colombia. The study involved the performance of the chi-square hypothesis test with the calculation of OR as an epidemiological measure with their respective 95% confidence intervals. The multivariate analysis consisted of performing a binary logistic regression model for explanatory purposes.

Results:

No relationship was found between the social, family, body self-perception, physical activity and sedentary behavior variables with excess weight; however, the area of residence, particularly living in the municipal capitals (OR Crude: 1.,635, 95% CI: 1.050 to 2.546) and self-perception of body weight as normal (Adjusted OR: 3.661, 95% CI: 1.781a7.526) increase the chances of being overweight and obese.

Conclusion:

The implementation of interdisciplinary educational programs is required to prevent and treat excess weight in adolescents in a timely manner, taking into account that there are factors that show a certain relationship with excess weight such as living in municipal capitals, level of education of the head of household and/or mother and normal body self-perception.