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Meta-Analysis
. 2021 Dec;24(18):6450-6465.
doi: 10.1017/S136898002100286X. Epub 2021 Jul 2.

Prevalence of childhood anaemia in Brazil: still a serious health problem: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Carlos Alberto Nogueira-de-Almeida  1 , Fábio da Veiga Ued  2 , Luiz Antonio Del Ciampo  2 , Edson Zangiacomi Martinez  2 , Ivan Savioli Ferraz  2 , Andrea Aparecida Contini  1 , Franciele Carolina Soares da Cruz  3 , Raquel Farias Barreto Silva  2 , Maria Eduarda Nogueira-de-Almeida  2 , Joel Alves Lamounier  4
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Prevalence of childhood anaemia in Brazil: still a serious health problem: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Carlos Alberto Nogueira-de-Almeida et al. Public Health Nutr. 2021 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of anaemia in Brazilian children up to 83·9 months old.

Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis, using databases PubMed, Scopus, SciELO, Lilacs, Google Scholar, Periódicos Capes, Arca, Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde, Microsoft Academic Search and Cochrane Library using search terms: anaemia, prevalence, child and Brazil. PROSPERO Registration number: CRD42020208818.

Setting: Cross-sectional, cohort, case-control and intervention studies published between 2007 and 2020 were searched, excluding those who assessed children with an illness or chronic condition. The main outcome was anaemia prevalence. Random effects models based on the inverse variance method were used to estimate pooled prevalence measures. Sensitivity analyses removed studies with high contribution to overall heterogeneity.

Participants: From 6790 first screened, 134 eligible studies were included, totalling 46 978 children aged zero to 83·9 months analysed, with adequate regions representativeness.

Results: Pooled prevalence of anaemia was 33 % (95 % CI 30, 35). Sensitivity analyses showed that withdrawal of studies that contributed to high heterogeneity did not influence national average prevalence.

Conclusions: Childhood anaemia is still a serious public health problem in Brazil, exposing 33 % of Brazilian children to the anaemia repercussions. The main limitation of the study is the estimation of national prevalence based on local surveys, but a large number of studies were included, with representation in all regions of the country, giving strength to the results. In Brazil, more public policies are needed to promote supplementation, fortification and access to healthy eating to reduce the high level of anaemia among children.

Keywords: Anaemia; Brazil; Child; Infant; Iron deficiency; Preschool; Prevalence.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart of the selection process according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Statement
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Forest plot for meta-analysis of the prevalence of anaemia in all Brazilian regions
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Forest plot for meta-analysis of the prevalence of anaemia in the Brazilian Midwest and North regions (ordered by year of publication)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Forest plot for meta-analysis of the prevalence of anaemia in the Brazilian Northeast region (ordered by year of publication)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Forest plot for meta-analysis of the prevalence of anaemia in the Brazilian Southeast region (ordered by year of publication)
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Forest plot for meta-analysis of the prevalence of anaemia in the Brazilian South region (ordered by year of publication)
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Contribution of each study to the overall effect size by Baujat plots
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
Funnel plot for publication bias analyses considering the 134 studies. The dashed vertical line refers to the position of the pooled prevalence in Brazil
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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    1. WHO (2017) Nutritional Anaemias: Tools for Effective Prevention and Control No. 9241513063. Geneva: World Health Organization.
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    1. WHO (2008) Worldwide Prevalence of Anaemia 1993–2005: WHO Global Database on Anaemia. WHO Global Database on Anaemia No. 9241596651. Geneva: World Health Organization.
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