Nutritional deficiencey and anemia in Latin America: A collaborative study.

A collaborative study of nutritional anemia in 3rd trimester pregnancy was performed in the Latin American countries of Argentina Brazil Colombia Guatemala Mexico Peru and Venezuela. Laboratory measurements included hemoglobin level mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) serum iron and iron-binding capacity serum folate vitamin B12 and albumin. Iron deficiency (transferrin saturation below 15%) was found in 48% of pregnant women as compared with 21% of non-pregnant females and 3% of male controls of comparable age. The prevalence of folate deficiency was 10% 10% and 9% in these 3 groups respectively. Vitamin B12 deficiency was found in 15% of pregnant women but in less than 1% of both control groups. Anemia as defined by current World Health Organization (WHO) criteria was found in 38.5% of pregnant women 17.3% of nonpregnant women and 3.1% of men. Analysis of the frequency distribution for hemoglobin levels based on a Gaussian distribution in normal subjects suggested that a large portion of subjects considered anemic by WHO Criteria were normal and that the true incidence of anemia in pregnant and nonpregnant females was 22 and 12% respectively. Correlation analysis indicated that iron deficiency was of major importance as a cause of anemia; folate lack was contributory only in pregnancy. No relationship could be demonstrated between vitamin B12 deficiency and anemia.(AUTHORS MODIFIED)