Maria Antonia Martins Galeazzi

Perfil nutricional de crianças e suas mães em bolsões de pobreza do município de Campinas, SP - 1996

Malnutrition is one of the major public health problems in Brazil, although recent data show a progressive decrease in its prevalence. However, the validity of national surveys can underestimate the magnitude of malnutrition in poverty areas. The purpose of this study was to evaluate malnutrition in poverty areas of Campinas, SP, and efforts were made to locate those urban areas, considering families income, building conditions, and geographic contiguity according to 1991 census. During the study period, a total of 125 children aged 0 to 24 months and their mothers were interviewed, and anthropometric and socioeconomic data were collected. Results show a prevalence of 7.2% of malnutrition, which is similar to the value of 7.4% observed for the same age in a 1989 national survey. Concerning mother nutritional status, the results show that 27.3% of women are at Body Mass Index of 25 kg/m² or higher. Thus, in order to properly achieve malnutrition decline, health promoters must consider the magnitude of the problem in special socioeconomic groups, developing a nutritional surveillance system designed to assist low income people, to whom traditional actions seems to be less efficient.

Prescrição e uso de formulados para nutrição enteral pelos Serviços de Nutrição Hospitalares do município de Campinas (SP)

Tube feeding is a recognized means, for dietary management of a disease, successfully surpassing the limits of patients with impaired feeding. Nevertheless, there is no local data about utilization of industrialized or domestic formulae by the Hospital Nutrition Services. In order to evaluate the utilization of both industrialized and the domestic formulae, as well as the health professional involved with diet prescription, all hospitals located in the city of Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil were interviewed. Results show that enteral nutrition is a routine for most institutions, and there is no significant deference between the use of industrialized or domestic formulae. In Campinas, the physician is responsible for the diet prescription, despite of the presence of a dietitian in the staff.