[The relation between pubertal gynecomastia and body mass index in a sample of adolescents attended at the Outpatient Health Unit of a University Hospital].

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the association between pubertal gynecomastia and body mass index for age. METHODS A sample of 109 cases was selected from the adolescent outpatient health unit, with ages between 11 and 19 years old at Pedro Ernesto University Hospital. Anthropometric measures of weight, height, mammary horizontal diameter and sexual maturation stage were collected. The analysis of the body mass index for age was based on the NHANES I and cutt-off points of Cole. The significance level was p < 0.005. RESULTS The percentage of adolescents with overweight and obesity was 50.4%. The mammary diameters increased from 1.5 +/- 1 to 4.86 +/- 2.20 cm, with significant correlation to body mass index for age (Pearson = 0.59). CONCLUSIONS The study confirmed significant correlation of mammary diameters to BMI percentiles and demonstrated that pubertal gynecomastia is associated with a higher IMC.