This cross sectional study included children aged 12 to 60 months attended by the public health service in the city of Viçosa, state of Minas Gerais. The objective was to evaluate the prevalences of anemia and serious anemia, the hemoglobin levels and the relation between nutritional status and iron deficiency anemia in these children. For the diagnosis of anemia, (Hemocue) was used, and the cutoff point of 11.0 g/dL proposed by the World Health Organization for anemia, and was adopted serious anemia, was adopted 9,5g/dL. A total of 171 children was evaluated; 62.2% were anemic and 43.5% of these were seriously anemic. Analyzing the nutritional status, a high percentage of under nourished children was found, according to the indexes weight/age, weight/height and height/age (11.7%, 7.0% and 5.8%, respectively). A high prevalence of anemia was observed among the earlier groups. No association was verified between anemia and nutritional status. Therefore, it is necessary to work towards anemia prevention and to alert the health professionals to an early diagnosis, prophylaxis and treatment.
anemia; iron-deficiency; nutritional status; anthropometry
