OBJECTIVES: this study assessed anemia and hypovitaminosis A in puerperal women seen at the Instituto Materno Infantil Prof. Fernando Figueira - IMIP. METHODS: descriptive cross sectional study using a sample of 72 puerperal hospital discharged women. RESULTS: age ranged from 12 to 41 years old, median age of 22.5 years old. A good school level was noted, although seven of these women declared three years or less of education. Some type of iron supplement intake during pregnancy was informed by 48 women. It was noted that 43.1% showed hemoglobin concentration below 10,0 g/dL and 65.3% below 11,0 g/dL. Microcitosis occurred in 14 patients (19.4%) with no microcitosis case. The levels of hypovitaminosis A were high: 25.0% had retinol levels under 20 µg/dL. An association tendency between puerperal non-anemic women and normocitosis (median corpuscular weight X anemia) was present; with a cut-off point for anemia of 11,0 g/dL, a positive association between anemia during pregnancy and the use of iron supplements was noted. CONCLUSIONS: anemia prevalence was high, although microcitosis frequency was low. Prevalence of hypovitaminosis A was high reaching levels considered a public health issue in Brazil.
Anemia; Vitamin A deficiency; Puerperium; Vitamin A
