Avaliação antropométrica de pacientes pediátricos com encefalopatia crônica não progressiva segundo diferentes métodos de classificação

Abstract

Objective:To perform anthropometric assessment of patients with quadriplegic, chronic non-progressive encephalopathy, comparing two distinct references of nutritional classification and to compare the estimated height to the length measured by stadiometer. Method:Cross-sectional study including 0-3-year children with quadriplegic chronic non-progressive encephalopathy in secondary public hospital. Length, weight, arm circumference, triceps skinfold and knee height were measured. The arm muscle circumference and estimated height were calculated. The following relations were evaluated: weight-for-age, length-for-age and weight-for-length, using as reference the charts of the World Health Organization (WHO) and those proposed by Krick et al. Results:Fourteen children with a mean age of 21 months were evaluated. Assessment of anthropometric indicators showed significant difference between the two classification methods to assess nutritional indicators length/age (p=0.014), weight/age (p=0.014) and weight/length (p=0.001). There was significant correlation between measured length and estimated height (r=0.796, p=0.001). Evaluation of arm circumference and triceps skinfold showed that most patients presented some degree of malnutrition. According to arm muscle circumference, most were eutrophic. Conclusions:Specific curves for children with chronic non-progressive encephalopathy appear to underestimate malnutrition when one takes into account indicators involving weight. Curves developed for healthy children can be a good option for clinical practice and weight-for-length indicator and body composition measurements should be considered as complementary tools.

Estado nutricional e consumo alimentar de crianças com paralisia cerebral de um centro de reabilitação da cidade do Recife / Nutritional state and food consumption of children with cerebral palsy of a rehabilitation center in the city of Recife

“…O percentual de baixo peso encontrado na amostra do estudo foi menor em comparação com os achados da literatura, os quais variam de 46,3% a 94,3% (8,20) . No entanto, a prega cutânea tricipital, a circunferência do braço e a circunferência muscular do braço indicaram ocorrência de desnutrição semelhante ao encontrado em outros estudos (21,22) . A mensuração das circunferências e pregas é recomendada na literatura para o diagnóstico nutricional das crianças com PC.…”