Nutritional status of children with vivax malaria in the Amazon Basin

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the nutritional status of children and adolescents with Plasmodium vivax malaria who live in an endemic area with unstable transmission in the west of the Amazon Basin. Moreover, we sought to evaluate if the nutritional status influences the parasitemia at admission and the history of malaria. Methods: Nutritional indexes used were height-for-age, weight-for-age, and body mass indexfor-age and children were classified according national and regional parameters based on Z scores of the World Health Organization. Results: A total of 43 children and 18 adolescents were enrolled in the study. Most of participants were eutrophic, but there is a high proportion of linear growth deficits in both children and adolescents, compared to national or regional standards. The history of disease and the parasitemia at admission were not associated with height-to-age in both age groups. Conclusions: Malaria by Plasmodium vivax can corroborate to deficit in linear growth of children.