Socio-Environmental variables associated with malnutrition and intestinal parasitoses in the child population of Misiones, Argentina

• Autores: Zonta, Maria Lorena; Oyhenart, Evelia Edith; Navone, Graciela Teresa
• Año de publicación: 2014
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: Socio-Environmental Variables; Malnutrition; Intestinal Parasitoses; Argentina
• Institución: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

Objectives: The aim was to analyze the socio-environmental variables associated with malnutrition and intestinal parasitoses in children from Aristobulo del Valle, Province of Misiones (Argentina). Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in 2,291 schoolchildren (age, 4–14 years). Body weight and height were measured and body mass index was calculated. NHANES III reference was used to estimate the nutritional status—underweight, stunting, wasting, overweight, and obesity. The parasitological analysis was performed by fecal and anal brush samples. The socio-environmental variables were surveyed using a semi-structured questionnaire. These variables were processed by categorical principal component analysis (cat-PCA). Results: The two first axes defined four subgroups of schoolchildren: three of these were associated with urban characteristics (high, middle, and periurban), whereas the remaining subgroup was considered rural. Stunting and parasitic infections occurred mainly in the periurban group, that is the group of higher socio-environmental vulnerability. On the other hand, the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity and the lowest parasitism was observed in the high urban group. Conclusions: The similarity between rural and middle urban groups in stunting prevalence reveals that cities are not healthier than rural environments. On the contrary, the fact that the rural group presents the lowest prevalence of overweight reaffirms that poverty and malnutrition are progressively moving from rural to urban areas, and that rural children have still more diverse and healthy diets favored by the consumption of homemade products (i.e., orchards, animal husbandry, etc.), placing them at an earlier stage of the nutrition transition.
Fil: Zonta, Maria Lorena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico la Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores (i); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; Argentina
Fil: Oyhenart, Evelia Edith. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Cs.naturales y Museo. Departamento Cientifico de Antropologia. Catedra de Antropologia Biologica Iv; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ingeniero Fernando Noel Dulout"; Argentina
Fil: Navone, Graciela Teresa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores (i); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; Argentina