Prevalence of iron-deficiency anaemia in Brazilian children under 5 years of age: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Fe-deficiency anaemia is considered an important public health problem both in wealthier countries and in those of medium and low income, especially in children under 5 years of age. The shortage of studies with national representativity in medium-income countries, such as Brazil, prevents the knowledge of the current situation and its associated factors. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the pooled prevalence of Fe-deficiency anaemia in Brazilian children under 5 years of age and determined the factors involved in the variability of the estimates of prevalence. We collected fifty-seven studies from the databases MEDLINE, LILACS and Web of Science, along with the reference lists of included articles. We contacted authors for unpublished data. We did not restrict publication timespan and language. This systematic review and meta-analysis was reported according to the guidelines by PRISMA. The pooled prevalence of anaemia in Brazil was 40·2 (95 % CI 36·0, 44·8) %. The age range of the child and the period of data collection were associated with the anaemia prevalence. The pooled prevalence of anaemia was higher in children under 24 months of age (53·5 v. 30·7 %; P < 0·001) and in studies with data collected before 2004 (51·8 v. 32·6 %; P = 0·001). The efforts made by the Brazilian government were successful in the reduction of anaemia in children under 5 years of age in Brazil in the evaluated period. However, prevalence remains beyond acceptable levels for this population group.

Prevalence and Associated Factors of Iron Deficiency and Iron Deficiency Anemia Among Under-5 Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“… 30 Similarly, children who lived in large families were 1.38 times more likely to have IDA than children who lived in small families (OR = 1.38; 95%: 1.18, 1.57). This finding was supported with a systematic review and meta-analysis conducted on Brazilian children 53 and WHO reports for risk factors of under-5 IDA. 51 If food production and family size do not increase with the same rate, it will result with poverty and end up with food insecurity with in the household.…”

“…52 However, the findings was lower than the study conducted in Brazil 40.2%. 53 The reason might be due to the present study that was conducted across the globe, which includes studies conducted in developed countries, where IDA was not a threat. Where as in Brazil there might be increased poverty in some parts of the country which resulted in malnutrition.…”

Prevalence of iron deficiency anemia in Brazilian women of childbearing age: a systematic review with meta-analysis

“…However, this type of investigation has already been carried out in children under the age of five. Systematic reviews with meta-analyses by Silveira et al (2021) and Ferreira et al (2021) show that compared to older studies, the prevalence of IDA in children under five years has been decreasing ( Ferreira et al, 2021 ; Silveira et al, 2021 ). Reinforcing this, according to the Ministry of Health of Brazil, referring to the National Study on Food and Child Nutrition, the prevalence of anemia in Brazilian children has reduced by half in the last 13 years ( Brazil, 2020b ).…”

Trends of risk factors associated with childhood stunting and anaemia in Ghana: evidence from the Demographic Health Survey and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (2003–2017)

“…From these sets identified, five of the risk factors were identified in this study. Childhood anaemia seems to disproportionately affect younger children with a relatively high prevalence reported amongst children below 2 years (31) . A plausible reason underlying this observation could be the fact that the period from prenatal life to the first 24 months after birth is a critical susceptibility window of the development (32) .…”