Reduction of vitamin A deficiency and anemia in pregnancy after implementing proposed prenatal nutritional assistance

Introduction: Micronutrient deficiency is an unquestionable public health problem, specially anemia and vitamin A deficiency (VAD). This is due to the collective dimension of these carencies, which reflects on morbimortality rates in the maternal and infant group. Objective: to evaluate the impact of a proposal for prenatal nutritional assistance, comparing the prevalence of anemia and VAD, in pre-intervention (GI) and intervention (GII) groups. Methods: this is a prospective intervention study in a cohort of pregnant women. The GI group was made up of 225 the GII group of 208 pregnant adults and their respective newborns, attended a Public Maternity Ward in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Concentration of hemoglobin was used to diagnose anemia and a standardized interview to diagnose night blindness (XN). Results and conclusion: after adjusting for confounding variables, through logistic regression, the protective effect of intervention at the onset of anemia (OR = 0.420; IC 95% = 0.251-0.702), with a significant reduction in prevalence, of 28.4% in the GI to 16.8% in the GII, also observed at the onset of XN (OR = 0.377; IC95% = 0.187- 0.759), with a reduction in prevalence of 18.7 % in the GI to 6.2% in the GII. Nutritional intervention has a beneficial effect on maternal health, reducing nutritional deficiencies most prevalent during pregnancy and the impact of these on the obstetric ailment.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Barbosa Chagas,C., Ramalho,A., de Carvalho Padilha,P., Delia Libera,B., Saunders,C.
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Grupo Arán 2011
Online Access:http://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0212-16112011000400026
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