Associação do estado nutricional e perfil sociodemográfico de crianças e adolescentes internadas em um hospital de referência do Nordeste Brasileiro

Abstract

Objective: Recognize the association between family income and the demographic, clinical and nutritional aspects of children and adolescents admitted to a referral hospital. Methods: A cross - sectional study with retrospective data was performed in a reference hospital in the Brazilian Northeast, using a questionnaire with those responsible for children from one month to fourteen years old and anthropometric evaluation was done with them. Statistical analysis was used SPSS software version 13.0 and assigned the Pearson correlation tests for the numerical variables and the chi-square test for the categorical variables. Results: There was a male prevalence (55.9%), the population was composed mainly of eutrophic individuals (83.1%) and 58.9% of the individuals were classified as vulnerable according to per capita income. When the classification according to income was correlated, were found statistically significant associations with malnutrition (p=0,002), with the short stature (p=0,034), with the origin (p=0,02) and with the reason of the hospitalization (0,02). Conclusion: Income was a determining factor for the demographic, clinical and nutritional variables. Thus, public policies must be focused on minimizing social inequalities and thus improving the health indexes of the less favored population.