Prevalence and factors associated to malnutrition and excess weight among under five year-olds in the six largest cities of Maranhão

Revista Brasileira de Epidemiologia

Lamy, Zeni Carvalho¹  Simões, Vanda Maria Ferreira¹  Alves, Maria Teresa Seabra Soares de Britto e¹  Batista, Rosangela Fernandes Lucena¹  Coimbra, Liberata Campos¹  Chagas, Deysianne Costa das¹  Silva, Antônio Augusto Moura da¹ 

关键词: Child malnutrition;    Children overweight;    Children's nutrition disorders;    Infant health;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S1415-790X2013000100014

学科分类：过敏症与临床免疫学

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

Prevalences of malnutrition and overweight among children under five years and its association with socioeconomic, demographic and health indicators were estimated for the six largest municipalities of Maranhão, in 2006/2007. By means of a household survey, a sample of 1214 children under five years of age was randomly selected. Two-stage cluster sampling was used, representing the six municipalities of Maranhão with over one hundred thousand inhabitants. Standardized questionnaire was administered to mothers or guardians and trained personnel measured weight and height or length. For classification of malnutrition cutoff points of <-2z scores for weight-for-age, weight-for-length/height and length/height-for-age were used. Overweight was considered when weight for heithg was > +2 z score, following World Health Organization guidelines. By weight-for-age malnutrition prevalence was 4.5, by length/height-for-age 8.5% were stunted and by the weight-for-length/height 3.9% were malnourished (wasting), while 6.7% were overweight. Children of families headed by women had lower prevalence of malnutrition (prevalence ratio=0.4). Socioeconomic variables were not associated with malnutrition or overweight. Participation in money transfer programs from the government was not associated with malnutrition or overweight. The prevalence of malnutrition was low, but being overweight was more prevalent than malnutrition. Social inequality was not detected in relation to malnutrition in children under five years of age, suggesting a favorable trend towards greater equity.

【 授权许可】

Unknown