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Socio‐environmental variables associated with malnutrition and intestinal parasitoses in the child population of Misiones, Argentina
Author(s) -
Zonta María L.,
Oyhenart Evelia E.,
Navone Graciela T.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
american journal of human biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.559
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1520-6300
pISSN - 1042-0533
DOI - 10.1002/ajhb.22570
Subject(s) - underweight , overweight , malnutrition , wasting , environmental health , geography , obesity , rural area , population , body mass index , demography , medicine , socioeconomics , pathology , sociology , endocrinology
Objectives The aim was to analyze the socio‐environmental variables associated with malnutrition and intestinal parasitoses in children from Aristóbulo del Valle, Province of Misiones (Argentina). Methods A cross‐sectional study was performed in 2,291 schoolchildren (age, 4–14 years). Body weight and height were measured and body mass index was calculated. NHANES III reference was used to estimate the nutritional status—underweight, stunting, wasting, overweight, and obesity. The parasitological analysis was performed by fecal and anal brush samples. The socio‐environmental variables were surveyed using a semi‐structured questionnaire. These variables were processed by categorical principal component analysis (cat‐PCA). Results The two first axes defined four subgroups of schoolchildren: three of these were associated with urban characteristics (high, middle, and periurban), whereas the remaining subgroup was considered rural. Stunting and parasitic infections occurred mainly in the periurban group, that is the group of higher socio‐environmental vulnerability. On the other hand, the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity and the lowest parasitism was observed in the high urban group. Conclusions The similarity between rural and middle urban groups in stunting prevalence reveals that cities are not healthier than rural environments. On the contrary, the fact that the rural group presents the lowest prevalence of overweight reaffirms that poverty and malnutrition are progressively moving from rural to urban areas, and that rural children have still more diverse and healthy diets favored by the consumption of homemade products (i.e., orchards, animal husbandry, etc.), placing them at an earlier stage of the nutrition transition. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 26:609–616, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.