Prevalência de hipovitaminose a em crianças de 0 a 59 meses da região semi-árida de Alagoas, 2007.

Abstract

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) is a nutritional deficiency that can be caused by insufficient intake of food sources of vitamin A, or due to problems in their absorption, transport or use. This is a problem of great importance because of the deleterious consequences that require the body, such as compromising the immune system, increasing susceptibility to infections, damage caused in the process of growth and development, and affect vision and may cause from night blindness to irreversible blindness nutritional. Children under five years are one of the largest groups of biological vulnerability, particularly in post-weaning. It is therefore of fundamental importance to establish the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency in this group to enable appropriate information to the planning of measures to prevent and control this situation. The objective was to estimate the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency in children from 0 to 59 months of the semiarid region of Alagoas. For that, it was determined the serum retinol by high performance liquid chromatography resolution on a probability sample comprised 652 children. The prevalence of inadequate plasma retinol levels (<20&#956;g/dL) was 44.8%. There was no significant difference in mean retinol by age. There was a statistically significant difference (p = 0009) in relation to gender, with higher rates of inadequacy among girls (55.4%). The World Health Organization states that a VAD prevalence of less than 20% characterized the situation as serious public health problem. Thus, this condition is more than set for the semiarid region of Alagoas, in that more than twice the cutoff point. Considering the existence of a national program established by the Ministry of Health directed the control of VAD, these results demonstrate the need for this to be properly assessed as to its operation and effectiveness.