Nutritional Profile of Children under 15 Months Old Assisted at an Integrated Health Center in Maringá, PR - Brazil

  • Paula Ayres Ferreira Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná
  • Caroline Filla Rosaneli Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná
  • Flávia Auler Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná

Abstract

This research investigated the nutritional profile of children under 15 months old assisted at an Integrated Health Center in Maringá, PR, Brazil. This study was carried out based in 124 medical records. However, there was a loss of 15 medical records, totalizing 109 children included in the research. The study variables were: weight, age, exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), incentives to EBF, data from NCHS graphs, number of medical appointments and weight at birth. For the diagnosis of the nutritional status, Gómez and the World Health Organization (WHO) classifications were used, as well as weight for age (W/A) and gender. From the 109 studied children, 55% were male and 45%, female. The average weight at birth from the children whose medical records were analyzed was 3,212.36 grams. The average number of medical appointments was 7.44 during the first 15 months of age and 81.25% of the children did not receive EBF until 6 months of age. The EBF incentive was mentioned in 70.79% of the medical records. As for the nutritional status classified according to Gómes criteria, 52.29% were eutrophic and 21.10% presented overweight or obesity. According to WHO classification, 85.32% of the children are eutrophic and 7.34% present nutritional risk. The utilization of the studied classifications from Gómez and WHO is not recommended as sole criterion for the elaboration of nutritional diagnosis

Author Biographies

Paula Ayres Ferreira, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná
Nutricionista formada pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná - Campus Maringá - PUCPR. E-mail: pafer@teracom.com.br
Caroline Filla Rosaneli, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná
Coordenadora do Curso de Nutrição da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná - Campus Maringá – PUCPR. E-mail: caroline.rosaneli@pucpr.br
Flávia Auler, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná
Docente do Curso de Nutrição da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná - Campus Maringá – PUCPR. E-mail: flavia.auler@pucpr.br
Published
2009-06-09
Section
Artigos Originais