NUTRITIONAL STATUS AND FOOD CONSUMPTION OF ASTHMATIC CHILDREN

Estado nutricional e consumo alimentar de crianças asmáticas

Daniele Andrade da Cunha (1), Hilton Justino da Silva (2), Isabella Jerônimo Prado (3), Renata Milena Freire Lima Regis (4), Elthon Gomes  Fernandes da Silva (4), Gerlane Karla Bezerra Oliveira Nascimento  (4), Renata Andrade da Cunha (5)  Célia Maria Machado Barbosa de Castro (6)

ABSTRACT

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease  characterized  by lower airway  hyperresponsiveness  and  variable limitation of the airflow, being  reversible spontaneously or with treatment The objective this research  was  to characterize  the nutritional status and  the energy  and  macronutrients adequacy in asthmatic children. Was analyzed  60  children of both sexes, 30  aged between  6 and  10  years diagnosed with asthma and  30  non- asthmatic children at pediatric allergology ambulatory of the Hospital das Clínicas of Pernambuco. Anthropometric measurements of height and  weight of children, the distribution of percentiles of Body Mass Index (BMI) and food consumption estimated by applying the 24h  recall was obtained.  In the asthmatic group, 50% had normal weight and  43.3%  of non-asthmatic. The groups were homogenous  regarding  sex, age  and  BMI. In relation to the food consumption, the adequacy of Kcal was lower than expected  in 70% of the non-asthmatic children and  80% of asthmatic children. However, the protein consumption was above  of the expected  in 50% of non- asthmatic and 73.3% of asthmatic children.