OBJECTIVE: To analyze mother and child factors associated with the occurrence of anemia in children assisted at primary health care centers in São Paulo city, Brazil. METHODS: The study enrolled 357 children from four to 24 months assisted at three health care centers in the southern region of the city. Possible factors associated to anemia and related to mother and children characteristics were categorized. Hemoglobin was determined by digital puncture and the cut value for anemia diagnosis was 11g/dL. Student t test was used to compare the hemoglobin means of two independent groups; ANOVA for three or more independent groups, and Mann-Whitney was used to test the association of anemia and age group or speed of growing. RESULTS: The prevalence of anemia was 60%. Anemia was not associated to maternal variables. Weight gain and male gender were associated to a higher prevalence of anemia. Anemia was also associated with poor qualitative or quantitative ingestion of iron. The occurrence of anemia was not avoided by breastfeeding practice. CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence of anemia was related to masculine gender, which had a faster speed of weight gain in children less than six months old and from 18 to 24 months old. Anemia was also related to low ingestion of iron in the diet.
anemia; iron; diet; health services; child
