Background and Objective:
Some evidence shows an increase in anxiety symptoms among undergraduate students during the covid-19 pandemic. However, anxiety symptoms can be different between individuals of different races/skin color, especially in a country with social inequalities linked to skin color, as brazil. So, this study aimed to assess the interaction between different races/skin color and anxiety in relation to body weight status in university students during the covid-19 pandemic.

Methods:
This cross-sectional study was conducted with 610 undergraduate students from brazil during the first wave of covid-19. Data were collected using an online questionnaire between july and august 2020. Self-reported race/skin color was categorized into white and black or pardo. Symptoms of anxiety disorders were assessed by depression, anxiety and stress scale-21 scale,validated in brazil. Body mass index (bmi) was obtained using self-reported weight (kg) and height (m), being bmi ≥ 25 kg/m² for adults, ≥ 27 kg/m² for the elderly and z-score ≥ 1 for adolescents, used as the cutoff point for excess weight. For data analysis, it was used adjusted logistic regression to estimate the odds ratio (or) and 95% confidence interval (CI).

Results:
Of the 610 university students, 51.31% were black or pardo, 62.95% were female, 56.89% were ≥ 23 years old, 42.79% had anxiety symptoms, and 48.52% were overweight. In the multivariate analysis, being black and having anxiety symptoms had higher odds of being overweight (or= 2.04; 95% ci: 1.21-3.45) compared with white individuals without anxiety symptoms. There was no interaction between race/skin color and anxiety in relation to being overweight.

Conclusion:
The findings suggest a possible racial disparity in weight status among undergraduate students, where those who declared black or pardo skin race/color and having anxiety symptoms were more likely to be overweight when compared to white without anxiety symptoms.

Finantial Support:
UFOP; CAPES