Resumo

VASQUEZ DE MARTINEZ, Nelly; BISIACCHI, Bárbara  e  SANCHEZ BITTER, Leopoldo. Anemia screening by HemoCue® among inhabitants of Caracas Metropolitan Area. An Venez Nutr [online]. 2007, vol.20, n.2, pp.71-75. ISSN 0798-0752.

The purpose of this paper was to test anemia prevalence among residents of Caracas Metropolitan Área. 2,013 samples were collected between August, 2005 and March, 2007 and segmented by age group: unweaned infants, preschool and school children, female and male teenagers, fertile, pregnant and post-menopause women and older than 18 years men. Samples were also segmented by social stratum, using the Graffar-Méndez-Castellano instrument. 72.71% female and y 27.29%, male. For hemoglobin measurement, the HemoCue® system was used. Subjects were diagnosed as anemics, according to WHO and FAO values. The Hb range was: 6.4-18.8 g/dL (average: 12.85 g/dL, SD = 1.9 g/dL, P10 = 10.1 g/dL, P90 = 15.5 g/dL). Results indicate an anemia prevalence of 29.42% among the population studied. Unweaned infants (between 6 months and 2 years), were the most affected, with 67.86% anemia prevalence, and people of social stratum V, with 37.11% anemics. Older than 18 years men were the least affected, with 10.77% anemics and social stratum I, with 12.5% anemics. We discuss the possible repercussions of these findings, concluding that anemia does exist among all studied groups of Caracas Metropolitan Area, affecting mainly children and pregnant women. Due to the negative effects of anemia on growth and development, we consider that this situation deserves immediate intervention.

Palavras-chave : Anemia; HemoCue®; hemoglobin; malnutrition.