Nutritional status of iron and vitamin A in 18-24 months-old children in the city of Viçosa, Minas Gerais

Neste estudo transversal foi avaliado o estado nutricional de ferro e vitamina A de 101 crianças de 18 a 24 meses de idade no município de Viçosa, Minas Gerais e possíveis correlações entre suas deficiências. Alíquotas de 8 mL de sangue coletados por punção venosa foram utilizadas para determinar as concentrações de hemoglobina e índices hematimétricos por contagem eletrônica automatizada; ferritina sérica pelo método de doseamento imunométrico; proteína C reativa pelo método de aglutinação do látex e retinol sérico por cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência. Nas análises parasitológicas de fezes utilizou-se os métodos de Hoffman, Faust e Ritchie. Os valores limítrofes para classificar o estado nutricional de ferro e vitamina A: hemoglobina 14,5%, ferritina 14,5%, ferritin < 12μg/L e retinol < 30μg/dL. Anemia was considered through hemoglobin concentration, the iron deficiency through ferritin and iron deficiency anemia when both, hemoglobin and ferritin were altered. The association of nutritional status of iron and vitamin A to maternal variables, characteristics from birth, social-economics conditions, habitation conditions, deaths, vaccination history and feeding practices. On the feeding practices a 24 hours recordative was used; and the inadequacy was estimated accordingly to the EAR (Estimated Average Requirement). The ranking of iron bioavailability was done using the standard proposed by MONSEN et al. (1978). The anthropometric index (weigh/age, height/age and weight/height) were evaluated on z score using the anthropometric references from CDC/NCHS. It was noted that 0,99; 18,2; 21,0; 30,7e 38,4% from the evaluated children showed deficiency of vitamin A, iron deficiency anemia, intestinal parasitosis, anemia and iron deficiency, respectively. Regression models were made to investigate which variables were associated to the retinol and hemoglobin levels, and to the iron deficiency. The retinol showed positively associated to the larger paternal education and to the larger content of protein in the food, and negatively associated to the number of inhabitants in the house. The hemoglobin showed a positive association to the years of maternal education and a negative association to the number of household inhabitants in the house, the age at the introduction of juice and/or fruit and the period of breastfeeding. But the consumption of milk close to the meal hours and the excess of inhabitants in the house were showed as risk factors to the iron deficiency. In this study it wasn’t found correlations among the indicators of nutritional status of iron and the levels of blood retinol, the only exception was for the correlation found between the hemoglobin and the retinol in non-anemic children. In general, it is concluded that the nutritional status of iron and the vitamin A among 18-24 months-old assisted at the health public services in Viçosa, Minas Gerais are associated social-economical variables and dietetics, and that further studies be carried out to with indicators of reservation of the nutritional status of iron and vitamin A to confirm or not to confirm the association among those.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superio