Intestinal helminthiasis and anaemia in youngsters from Matriz da Luz, district of Säo Lourenço da Mata, State of Pernambuco, Brazil

RESUMO

A group of youngsters (4-18 years old) in northeast Brazil was studied to stablish the prevalence of anaemia and intestinal parasitism, as well as to analyse the correlation between them. Two criteria were used to determine the state of anaemia, the level of haemoglobin and the mean of corpuscular volume. The first was considered a single criterion and the second an associated criteria, used in an attempt to correlate anaemia with iron deficiency. The prevalence of intestinal parasitism was 93 per cent while the prevalence of anaemia was 43.1 per cent and 16.1 per cent according to the criteria employed (single or associated respectively). Anaemia was significantly associated with both sex and age. No significant statistical difference was observed when the association was made between each parasite and anaemia even with those more related to anaemia.