Table 1.

Frequency distributions of the baseline covariates in the intervention and comparison groups: 2038 children from nine intervention and eight comparative public and private elementary schools, Belo Horizonte, south-east Brazil

	Intervention (n 1191)	Comparison (n 847)	P value
Gender (%)
Girls	50·4	48·4	0·378*
Boys	49·6	51·6
Age (years)
Mean	9·4	1·5	0·09†
sd	9·3	1·6
School type (%)
Private	42·4	26·1	<0·001*
Public	57·6	73·9
Weight (%)
Excess body weight	25·2	25·9	0·809*
Normal weight	74·8	74·1
‘Pre-contemplation’ (behaviour stage) (%)
Fatty food consumption	31·9	16·4	<0·001*
F&V consumption	21·7	11·0
PA	9·7	5·8
Sedentary activity (television/DVD)	42·3	27·4
Sedentary activity (video games/computers)	28·2	21·3
‘Contemplation’ (behaviour stage) (%)
Fatty food consumption	19·8	11·9	<0·001*
F&V consumption	25·8	14·1
PA	15·4	6·3
Sedentary activity (television/DVD)	12·1	9·7
Sedentary activity (video games/computers)	10·2	8·0
‘Preparation’ (behaviour stage) (%)
Fatty food consumption	19·0	26·9	<0·001*
F&V consumption	25·1	28·7
PA	19·9	13·2
Sedentary activity (television/DVD)	16·9	28·2
Sedentary activity (video games/computers)	12·0	12·2
‘Action’ (behaviour stage) (%)
Fatty food consumption	14·8	14·9	<0·001*
F&V consumption	6·9	9·3
PA	12·7	15·2
Sedentary activity (television/DVD)	10·4	11·7
Sedentary activity (video games/computers)	14·9	20·3
‘Maintenance’ (behaviour stage) (%)
Fatty food consumption	14·5	30·0	<0·001*
F&V consumption	20·6	36·9
PA	42·3	59·5
Sedentary activity (television/DVD)	18·3	22·9
Sedentary activity (video games/computers)	34·7	38·2
Motivational level (teachers) (%)
Motivated	58·5	41·7	0·140*
Not motivated	41·5	58·3

F&V, fruit and vegetables; PA, physical activity.

*Pearson's χ ² test.

†Student's t test.