Sickle cell anemia is a chronic hemolitic disease and very common in Brazil and there are few information about nutritional status of micronutrients in people with sickle cell anemia in this country. International studies have shown positive correlation between deficiency of micronutrients and worst evolution of the disease. The aim of this study was to carry out a systematic review about deficiency of micronutrients in children and adolescents with sickle cell anemia. The publications included were selected through scientific bases Medline and Lilacs, by Pubmed and Scielo, available between 1998 and 2008. In this analysis were included publications with children and adolescents with homozygotic type of the disease (SS). The methodological quality of scientific articles was evaluated according to STROBE recommendations: 11 publications were selected, 2 cross-sectionals, 4 case-controls and 5 cohort studies, all of them from United States of America. The level of concordance between data collected by different researchers showed a very good concordance (k = 1,00) and 90,9% of the studies were classified as B category. The analysis of results noticed an unfavourable nutritional status for the majority of the nutrients studied (vitamins A, D, B6, folic acid, calcium, zinc) except for iron and vitamin B12, which results showed low or none biochemical or dietetic inadequate levels. All these results confirm the need of nutritional care with these patients in order to reach a better quality of life for them.
Anemia, sickle cell; micronutrients
