Anemia em crianças indígenas da etnia karapotó, São Sebastião - Alagoas

Abstract

Anemia is a "agravo" that transcend in magnitude and assail in a more intense way the childish group, where it brings grave consequences to children growth, endangering the individual and the society. The purpose was describing the anemia prevalence and its relation with several associated factors in a indigenous ethnic. Using a transversal studying the studied population was formed by all children from 6 to 59 months from Karapató ethnic that were in hamlet at the moment of teh studying (n=99), Plak-ô Hamlets' (n=34) and Terra Nova's (n=65) residents, city of São Sebastião - Alagoas. The anemia evaluation was made by hemoglobine dosage "mediante" the use of a Hemocue portable "fotômetro". The food security perception was evaluated in all families in the study, using the Food Insecurity Brazilian Scale (from EBIA, in portuguese), "coproparasitológicos" exams were analyzed by the spontaneous methods (HPJ) and Cato/Kats and the nutritional state classification was made from indexes: stature/age, weight/age, weight/stature. Children's anemia prevalence was 57.5% while maternal anemia was 41.6%. Hemoglobine level of children increased in function of maternal age and education, and decreased among children with weight deficit for stature and precocious weaning. Anemia prevalence associated to a higher number of family members and lower possession of items of use, to the housing and the food (in)security. The "enteroparasitoses" and anemia prevalences were higher in Terra Nova hamlet (70.2%, 70.7%, respectively) compared with Plak-ô hamlet (62.9%, 32.3%, respectively too), presenting significant differences in the anemia prevalences per hamlet. A higher frequency of poliparasitismo , like cases of moderated and grave anemia cases were detected in Terra Nova hamlet. The food in(security) prevalence in Terra Nova and Plak-ô hamlets was 84.3% and 85.7%, respectively. "Enteroparasitoses" associated to a lower number of house rooms and a higher age range in children from Terra Nova hamlet. Between hamlets, the discovered significant differences were with regard to anemia, maternal literacy and maternal weaning. In a general way, the presented grave situation reflects the complexity of a population living in substandard conditions of life and in a search for its cultural identity, in constant confront with questions with regard to its ethnic survival, like the land possession and the survival ways that clearly ensues int the detected discrepancies between the hamlets in which the Karapotó people are distributed.