Vigilância nutricional e morbidade de crianças menores de 5 anos numa unidade básica de saúde: análise da série histórica 1987-91 Nutritional surveillance and morbidity of children under 5 years of age seen in a primary health care unit: historical series 1987-91

O presente estudo apresenta uma análise preliminar dos dados de estado nutricional (EN) e de morbidade de crianças menores de 5 anos, coletados pelo Sistema de Vigilância Alimentar e Nutricional (SISVAN) entre 1987 e 1991 numa unidade de atenção primária à saúde que atende a uma população favelada do Rio de Janeiro. Os perfis encontrados nas quase 35.000 consultas no período indicaram um importante desvio à esquerda, já no primeiro semestre de vida, para o indicador estatura/idade (E/I). Revelaram, ademais, que 20,4% das crianças apresentavam massa corporal para idade (MC/I) abaixo do percentil 10 da referência NCHS. Houve uma aparente tendência de diminuição da freqüência de crianças com nanismo (valor Z E/I This paper presents preliminary analysis of the nutritional status assessment (NS) and morbidity of low-income children under 5 years of age seen by the Food and Nutritional Surveillance System of a primary health care unit in Rio de Janeiro between 1987 and 1991. The distribution of lengh/stature for age (LSA) was skewed to the left as early as the first semester of life. Approximately 20% of the children had values of body mass for age (BMA) below the 10th percentile of the reference growth curve (NCHS). The prevalence of stunting (Z LSA < - 2) decreased yearly during the period. The eight most frequent causes of visit to the unit were the same but the frequencies varied from year to year. In the last three years upper respiratory (URD) and digestive diseases (DD) and undernutrition prevailed. NS did not correlate with UPD but the prevalence of DD was inversely associated with BMA percentile. These data indicate relevant growth deficits in the children which justifies the implementation of nutritional surveillance in health units. It is also clear that morbidity and NS must be correlated in future studies, so that, the role of nutritional surveillance is enhanced in the Health Sector