Abstract
ABSTRACTObjective: To analyze the association of anemia with the socioeconomic vulnerability of preschoolers in public day care centers, in the city of Taubaté, SP, Brazil.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with a probabilistic sample that analyzed 363 children assisted in public day care centres in low-income and high-income areas of Taubaté, SP, Brazil. The hemoglobin concentration (Hb), dependent variable, was obtained by digital puncture, considering anemic children with Hb concentration <11.0 g/dL. The independent variables such as socioeconomic and demographic conditions were collected by a semi-structured questionnaire.Results: The prevalence of iron deficiency anemia was 19.3% among preschoolers. Children from day care centers with high socioeconomic vulnerability had lower Hb concentration than those from a non-vulnerable area (p<0.05).Conclusions: The lower concentration of hemoglobin in preschoolers is associated with the location of day care centers in an area of socioeconomic vulnerability. Children attending these day care centers face adverse family conditions such as low income, working mothers, and mothers with low schooling, though they receive social benefits and monitoring by public health services.
Highlights
Iron deficiency anemia in children under five years of age stands out among specific nutritional deficiencies, with a prevalence of 42.6%, affecting 273.2 million children worldwide
It is noteworthy that Brazilian preschoolers and women of reproductive age, the populations that are most sensitive to anemia, continue to show high prevalence of this nutritional deficiency despite interventions for flour fortification and iron supplementation, which were implemented over a decade ago.[4,5]
A total of 363 children aged between 24 and 48 months participated in this study, all of whom attended public day care centers in the part-time or fulltime programs
Summary
Iron deficiency anemia in children under five years of age stands out among specific nutritional deficiencies, with a prevalence of 42.6%, affecting 273.2 million children worldwide. It is noteworthy that Brazilian preschoolers and women of reproductive age, the populations that are most sensitive to anemia, continue to show high prevalence of this nutritional deficiency despite interventions for flour fortification and iron supplementation, which were implemented over a decade ago.[4,5] This statement is confirmed by the high prevalence of anemia described in the National Demography and Health Survey in 2006, which identified anemia in 20.9% of Brazilian children and 29.4% of Brazilian women, representing a moderate risk situation in public health.[6] In this sense, children, being dependent on the environment and susceptible to psychological, socioeconomic and cultural changes, are part of the most significantly relevant group, since their resilience to different vulnerability scenarios is investigated to understand various public health problems. The situations of social inequity and inequality, expressed through potential for illness, or non-illness,[7] overcome the probabilistic character of risk by pointing out a set of aspects that go beyond the individual, covering collective aspects of biological, psychological, cultural, economic and political order, which lead to susceptibility to diseases or injuries.[8]
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