Nutritional assessment of iron status and anemia in children under 5 years old at public daycare centers.
OBJECTIVE
To assess nutritional iron status and anemia prevalence in children less than 5 years old at public daycare centers in the city of Recife, PE, Brazil.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study, with a systematic random sampling of 162 children aged 6 to 59 months. Nutritional iron status was assessed in terms of body iron reserves (serum ferritin), transferrinemia (serum iron, total iron binding capacity, and transferrin saturation %), erythropoiesis (free erythrocyte protoporphyrin) and hemoglobin production (hemoglobin).


RESULTS
The prevalence of anemia (hemoglobin < 11.0 g/dL) was 55.6% (95%CI 47.3-63.5), evidence was found of depleted iron stocks (serum ferritin < 12.0 ng/mL) in 30.8% (95%CI 22.9-39.3), low transferrinemia levels (transferrin saturation % < 16) in 60.1% (95%CI 51.7-68.0) and deficient erythropoiesis (free erythrocyte protoporphyrin > 40 micromol/mol heme) in 69.6% (95%CI 61.0-77.1) of the children. Iron parameters were not correlated with sex (p > 0.05). However, children < 24 months exhibited lower hemoglobin concentrations (p < 0.00) and higher levels of free erythrocyte protoporphyrin (p < 0.000) and total iron binding capacity (p < 0.001) when compared with children > 24 months. The significant correlation observed between reserves, transferrinemia and erythropoiesis is a finding that is compatible with the expected lifecycle of iron in the body.


CONCLUSIONS
Iron deficiency and anemia appear to be an important public health problem among children less than 5 years old at public daycare centers in Recife. Therefore, effective actions aimed at the prevention and control of this deficiency are strongly recommended in this ecological context.
Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), Recife, PE, Brazil.
Ana Cláudia F
AC
Vieira
Alcides S
AS
Diniz
Poliana C
PC
Cabral
Rejane S
RS
Oliveira
Margarida M F
MM
Lóla
Solange M M
SM
Silva
Patrick
P
Kolsteren
D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002656:Child Day Care Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004920:Erythropoiesis; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D015995:Prevalence; D011524:Protoporphyrins / Q000097:blood; D014168:Transferrin / Q000032:analysis
D011524:Protoporphyrins; D014168:Transferrin; D005293:Ferritins