Saúde mental materna e estado nutricional do binômio mãe/filho na população quilombola de Alagoas

Abstract

Maternal mental disorders may influence the adequacy of care that a mother should have with their children, affecting their growth and development, increasing the risk for malnutrition or other nutritional problems. This study aimed to investigate the existence of association between maternal common mental disorders (CMD) and child nutrition. Cross-sectional study was conducted with 596 children 6-60 months of age and their mothers in 39 quilombolas communities of Alagoas. The maternal mental health was assessed by the Self Report Questionnaire (SRQ-20). We collected data on anthropometric, socioeconomic, demographic, health, use of public services and presence of comorbidities. The nutritional status was determined by anthropometric standards of World Health Organization (WHO) and diagnosed with short stature when Z <-2 for index height for age (H/A), and overweight/obesity when Z &#8805; 2 for weight for height (W/H). To assess the nutritional status of mothers was used Body Mass Index (BMI) according parameter of the WHO. The findings found no association between maternal CMD and child nutritional status, but showed 65.3% of CMD among mothers of children under five years old, indicating a need for more studies that emphasize the role of maternal mental health as a possible risk to the child growth and development. However, we observed a high prevalence of nutritional deficiencies that persist as major public health problems in the state besides the strong presence of the nutritional transition, where malnutrition and obesity coexist with equal magnitude. Thus, interventions are needed in order to prevent, control and combat obesity and malnutrition, since both are health hazards.