title: Reduction of vitamin A deficiency and anemia in pregnancy after implementing proposed prenatal nutritional assistance.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Micronutrient deficiency is an unquestionable public health problem, specially anemia and vitamin A deficiency (VAD). This is due to the collective dimension of these carencies, which reflects on morbimortality rates in the maternal and infant group.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  to evaluate the impact of a proposal for prenatal nutritional assistance, comparing the prevalence of anemia and VAD, in pre-intervention (GI) and intervention (GII) groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  this is a prospective intervention study in a cohort of pregnant women. The GI group was made up of 225 the GII group of 208 pregnant adults and their respective newborns, attended a Public Maternity Ward in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Concentration of hemoglobin was used to diagnose anemia and a standardized interview to diagnose night blindness (XN).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  after adjusting for confounding variables, through logistic regression, the protective effect of intervention at the onset of anemia (OR = 0.420; IC 95% = 0.251-0.702), with a significant reduction in prevalence, of 28.4% in the GI to 16.8% in the GII, also observed at the onset of XN (OR = 0.377; IC95% = 0.187- 0.759), with a reduction in prevalence of 18.7 % in the GI to 6.2% in the GII. Nutritional intervention has a beneficial effect on maternal health, reducing nutritional deficiencies most prevalent during pregnancy and the impact of these on the obstetric ailment.
authors.affiliation: Núcleo de Pesquisa em Micronutrientes, Instituto de Nutrição Josué de Castro, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. cbchagas@hotmail.com
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Barbosa Chagas
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ramalho
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: de Carvalho Padilha
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Delia Libera
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Saunders
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000740:Anemia / Q000628:therapy*; D000886:Anthropometry; D001938:Brazil; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009755:Night Blindness / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D018529:Nutritional Support / Q000379:methods*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000628:therapy*; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000379:methods*; D039401:Prenatal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D018401:Sample Size; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014802:Vitamin A Deficiency / Q000628:therapy*; D055815:Young Adult