Anaemia among school children of different socioeconomical status in a city of Southern Brazil

Background: Iron deficiency is one of the leading causes of anaemia, with those most affected being children and women of childbearing age, in Brazil there is a scarcity of studies involving the local prevalence of anaemia. Aim: To evaluate anaemia and associated factors in schoolchildren in Santa Cruz do Sul through the analysis of biochemical and haematological markers and parasitological examination of faeces. Subjects and methods: School children from 10 to 12 years of age were evaluated through complete blood count, serum ferritin, C-reactive protein and stool parasitological examination, as well as socio-demographic characteristics and prophylaxis with ferrous sulphate in childhood. Results: It was found that 13.0% of the population was anaemic, girls were very slightly overrepresented among the anaemic children. Only 5.3% had altered haematocrit levels; 26.6% had low Mean Corpuscular Volume levels; 18.4% had low ferritin levels; 2.4% had increased C-reactive protein levels, and 21.7% had altered eosinophils. As for the socioeconomic level, classes A2 and D presented lower haemoglobin levels, as well as class D presenting lower ferritin levels, although without statistical significance. Only 6.0% of the population presented iron-deficiency anaemia and 46.0% of the schoolchildren had used ferrous sulphate supplementation in childhood. Conclusion: The prevalence of anaemia in the studied municipality is low, probably due to the high municipal human development index. Epidemiological studies are essential to characterise the population in a systematic form, to prevent future problems.

PERCEPTION OF PATIENTS WITH INTESTINAL OSTOMY IN RELATION TO NUTRITIONAL AND LIFESTYLE CHANGES

ABSTRACT Objective: to describe the perceptions of people with intestinal ostomies on changes related to nutritional and lifestyle aspects. Method: exploratory and descriptive study, with a qualitative approach, performed with 17 patients with intestinal ostomies, who participate in a group of ostomized in a municipality in the countryside of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed based on the thematic analysis from which two categories emerged: “Change in the eating habits and nutritional profile of people with ostomy” and “living with the new”. Results: many changes that occur with the ostomized people, with body weight preferences and eating habits. There are daily situations that require adaptation to be experienced, among them: domestic tasks, sexuality, sports, work and leisure activities. The subjects who use the irrigation method presented autonomy in their daily life and see the ostomy as a new possibility in the face of the disease. Conclusion: to minimize the repercussions that occur in the lifestyle of ostomized people, there is evidence of the need for individualized nutritional and psychological follow-up and of extension in the guidelines of the professional teams that work with them, as well as the dissemination of the irrigation method to people with ostomies who are able to perform such procedure.

Neuropsychomotor development and genomic stability associated to folate and blood iron levels in preschool children

Abstract Objectives: to evaluate the neuropsychomotor development and the genomic stability associated to folate and blood iron levels in preschool children. Methods: a cross-sectional study in which evaluated the biochemical exams (complete hemogram, serum ferritin, iron and folate), neuropsychomotor development (Denver II Test) and genotoxicity (micronuclei cytome in buccal mucosa cells) of 55 children aging 36-59 months old. Student´s T test, Kruskal-Wallis and Pearson's or Spearman's correlation tests were applied with a significance level of p<0.05 for data analysis. Results: the prevalence of anemia was 1.8%. The Denver II test classified 32.7% of the children as normal and 67.3% were suspected of having a delay. The children suspected of having a delay presented a slight reduction on hemoglobin and hematocrit (p=0.05 and p=0.14), intermediate reduction on iron and folate (p=0.29 and p=0.23) and a notable reduction on ferritin (p=0.03). Folate and iron were significantly associated to the frequency of cells with DNA damages (p<0.05). The frequency of binucleated cells was positively associated to the Red Cell Distribution Width (RDW) (r=0.56; p=0.02) in children without a delay and negatively with folate (r=-0.334; p=0.047) in children with a delay. Conclusions: this study showed a low prevalence of anemia, but a high rate of children suspected of having a neuropsychomotor, possibly associated to low ferritin levels. Additionally, iron and folate were associated to DNA damage which may have contributed to the psychomotor development delay.