Open Access
Distribuição da anemia em pré-escolares do semi-árido da Bahia
Author(s) -
Ana Marlúcia de Oliveira Assis,
Leonor Maria Pacheco Santos,
Maísa Cruz Martins,
Maria da Purificação Nazaré Araújo,
Denise Q. Amorim,
Saul S. Morris,
Maurício Lima Barreto
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
cadernos de saúde pública
Language(s) - Portuguese
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1678-4464
pISSN - 0102-311X
DOI - 10.1590/s0102-311x1997000200013
Subject(s) - anemia , hemoglobin , medicine , pediatrics , demography , sociology
The objective of this survey was to determine the prevalence of anemia and potential determinants thereof in 754 children from urban areas of seven small towns in the semi-arid region of Bahia. Hemoglobin was measured in 745 children 1 to 72 months of age. For the 6-to-72 month-old group, hemoglobin < 11.0 g/dl was considered anemia (following WHO recommendations) whereas <9.5 g/dl was considered severe anemia. The same cutoffs were used for children under 6 months, which are the same ones used in clinical-hematology. A mean hemoglobin of 12.1 g/dl was found, distributed differently according to age groups (p=0.001). The study found prevalences of 22.2 % for anemia and 5.8% for severe anemia, respectively. Occurrence of anemia varied significantly with age (p=0.001); the highest prevalence was 50.0% in children 12 to 23 months of age, followed by 29.9% in children below 12 months. The association of anemia with mother's education (controlled for age) and per capita family income was not statistically significant.