STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANEMIA AND ENTEROPARASITOSIS IN CHILDREN WHO USE DAY CARE CENTERS: A NARRATIVE REVIEW

Abstract

Enteroparasitosis is an important public health problem, especially in developing countries. It especially affects the child age group, as they have immature immunity and few notions about hygiene habits. It is essential to study the relationship between anemia and enteroparasitosis in children, as they can cause various health damages, such as malnutrition, gastrointestinal problems and contribute to the low physical and cognitive development of children. The objective of this study was to perform a narrative review on the relationship between anemia and enteroparasitosis in children who use day care centers. The search for articles took place in the international databases Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), National Library of Medicine (PubMed), Regional Library of Medicine (Bireme) and Google Scholar (Google Scholar). The descriptors "anemia", "children", "intestinal parasitosis" and "prevalence" were used, combined using the Boolean operator "AND". Articles with a text available in full for free, with a time frame between January 2011 and January 2022, in Portuguese, English, or Spanish, were included in the study. Review, thesis or dissertation articles, experience reports and duplicate articles were excluded. Articles that contained evidence of agreement with the study were read in full in order to structure this work. A total of 2,228 articles were found, of which 572 articles met the established criteria, but only 16 matched the theme of this work. An association between anemia and enteroparasitosis was demonstrated, and the main associated factors were related to the precarious living conditions of each population studied, low income, inadequate hygiene, lack of quality basic sanitation, lack of basic health care, scarce diet and low schooling. It is emphasized the need to implement measures aimed at improving the living conditions of the population, especially the child age group, and in addition, to carry out more studies to better understand the relationship between anemia and enteroparasitosis.