Estado nutricional e níveis de hemoglobina em crianças Aruak e Karibe: povos indígenas do Alto Xingu, Brasil Central, 2001-2002

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the nutritional status of indigenous children of the Aruak and Karibe linguistic families from the Upper Xingu, Central Brazil, and study the relationship between hemoglobin levels and children's gender, age and nutritional status. In total, 470 children under age ten were studied in 2001/2002. Methods: For children under five years old, the diagnosis of undernutrition was based on the heightfor-age and weight-for-age indices, with a cutoff value of two standard deviations below the mean values expected for the age and gender reference - WHO, 2006. A diagnosis of overweight was made when the weight-for-height indice was two standard deviations above the mean expected for the same reference; children between five and ten years old were classified as being underweight, overweight or obese according to their body mass index (BMI) by gender and age, as proposed by Cole et al. The diagnosis of anemia was based on hemoglobin concentrations below 11.0 g/dl for children between 6 and 59 months old or below 11.5 g/dl for children between 60 and 120 months old. Results/conclusion: Growth deficit was highly prevalent among the Indian children. Low weight-for-height was a very rare condition and overweight was significant among the younger and the older children. About 70% of the children were anemic, and age seems to be the main factor associated with low hemoglobin concentrations.

Estado nutricional de menores de 5 anos de idade no Brasil: evidências da polarização epidemiológica nutricional

“…However, although reports of malnutrition, in general, characterise children's anthropometric profiles among indigenous peoples, the increase in children with obesity in this population merits particular attention. Evaluating the nutritional status of indigenous children from Alto Xingu, and in a study of the nutritional profile of indigenous Kaingáng children, Mondini et al 34 and Kuhl et al 35 , respectively, also found a marked percentage of overweight, similar to that observed in this study. The authors also noted that these findings are not isolated cases in the indigenous context and note that recent studies have identified cases of overweight amongst children from different indigenous groups.…”

Nutritional situation of children under five years old in Brazil’s northeastern cities

“…This scenario is in agreement with that observed in the most recent surveys [10][11][12][21][22][23][24] and with nationwide studies [25][26][27][28][29][30][31] as well as with those undertaken in other Latin American countries [3][4][5][6][7] .…”

“…Concerning the indigenous population, Castro et al 30 found a prevalence of 15.5% among children of less than 10 years of age of the Kaingáng tribe of the south of Brazil. For the same age group, Mondini et al 31 observed prevalences of 28.2% and 15.06% in children of the Aruak and Karibe tribes, respectively.…”

Saúde e povos indígenas no Brasil: reflexões a partir do I Inquérito Nacional de Saúde e Nutrição Indígena

“…Por exemplo, é somente dentre os estudos realizados em comunidades indígenas brasileiras que se encontram referências a frequências de desnutrição crônica superior a 50% em crianças menores de cinco anos, e da ordem de 80% de anemia nesta mesma faixa etária 17,18,19 . Nas comunidades indígenas onde a tuberculose é endêmica, mais de 60% das notificações têm sido reportadas em crianças 20,21 .…”