OBJECTIVE: In order to assess nutritional and anemic status, as well as to analyze hemoglobin concentration according to sex, age and nutritional status, 470 Indian children (Aruak and Karibe) aged 0 to 119.9 months, from the Upper Xingu region of Central Brazil were studied in 2001/2. METHODS: For children from 0 to 59.9 months, malnourishment was diagnosed when height-for-age and weight-for-height indices were below two standard deviations of the expected mean values according to the WHO's 2006 growth reference. Overweight was determined when weight-for-height indices were above the same reference. For children from 60 to 119.9 months, underweight and overweight were defined according to body mass index cut-offs, by age and sex proposed by Cole et al. Anemic status was diagnosed by hemoglobin values below 11 g/dL for children from 6 to 59.9 months and below 11.5 g/dL, for children from 60 to 119.9 months. RESULTS/CONCLUSION: Growth deficit was highly prevalent; in contrast wasting was insignificant and the prevalence of overweight was more frequent among younger and older children. About 70% of Indian children were anemic and age was the major factor associated with low hemoglobin concentration.
Children; Indians; Nutritional status; Hemoglobin; Anemia; Upper Xingu; Central Brazil
