Resumen

CORDERO, Raimundo E; INFANTE, Benito; ZABALA, María Teresa  y  HAGEL, Isabel. Efecto de las parasitosis intestinales sobre los parámetros antropométricos en niños de un área rural de río chico: Estado Miranda, Venezuela. RFM [online]. 2009, vol.32, n.2, pp.132-138. ISSN 0798-0469.

Intestinal parasitic infections have a high prevalence in populations of developing countries and affect mainly those individuals who have greater nutritional deficit. From 166 children, belonging to families of the community of "Nueva Madre de Rio Chico, Edo. Miranda, Venezuela"; 51 (28 girls, 54.9 % and 23 boys, 45.1 %) 30, 7 % from the total children, delivered stool and fresh examination was made. The following variables were selected: weight (kg), tall (cm), left arm circumference (LAC) (cm), triceps folds (mm) and subscapular folds (mm), body mass index (BMI) (kg/m2), lean area (mm) and fat area (mm), to establish a relationship between parasites and anthropometric variables. 75 % of the total group presented normal dimensional growth. The stool examination showed that 74 % were infected, with similar incidence between boys and girls; the parasite load was mild according to criteria of WHO. The parasites with bigger frequency were: Ascaris lumbricoides, Taenia and Giardia intestinalis. The media of the anthropometric variables were lower in subjects with parasites and did not differ significantly from the group without parasites. The difference observed between the anthropometric values found for children in the age range: 10 - 13 years, and children in the age range ≤ 6 years was a trend towards a decrease in gain for all variables except tall for the group of parasitized children. The high prevalence and low parasite load did not affect the nutritional status of children, therefore, the indicators related to access to food and adequate financial resources to households, should be paid more attention.

Palabras clave : Intestinal parasites; Anthropometric variables; Nutritional status.