Characterization of anemia and association with subclinical infection in children from rural areas of the northeast of Brazil

Anemia is the most prevalent nutritional deficiency worldwide.It is considered a public health problem that is related to iron and infectious process. This study aimed at characterizing anemia and relating it to subclinical infection in children under the age of five years old residing in rural areas of Teresina, in Piauí state. A subsample of 103 children from 6 to 59 months, from both sexeswas evaluated. In order to diagnose anemia, a concentration of hemoglobin was used, and children were considered anemic when the values were smaller than 11mg/dL. In order to characterize and classify the anemia present in the population, red blood cell indices were used, considering as iron deficiency anemia the limits below normality for: Mean corpuscular volume - MCV (72fl), Mean corpuscular hemoglobin - MCH (24pg) and Red Cell Distribution Width - RDW>14.5%. The value of C-reactive protein > 5mg/L was considered an indication of the presence of infection or inflammatory process. The prevalence rates of anemia and subclinical infection were 25.7% and 7.7%, with no significant association between the red blood cell indices and this characteristic. The alterations in the red blood cell indices were useful to classify it as iron deficiency anemia.