Resumen

PEREZ GUILLEN, A.  y  BERNAL RIVAS, J.. Prediction of the nutritional status by anthropometrical variables and food safety at homes of pregnant women from Caracas, Venezuela. Nutr. Hosp. [online]. 2006, vol.21, n.5, pp.611-616. ISSN 1699-5198.

Objective: The objective of this research is to analyze the nutritional status and household food security of asample of healthy pregnant women who attend to external medicine service at Concepcion Palacios Maternity located in Caracas, Venezuela, and identify variables, which could predict the nutritional status of the evaluated group. Method: This cross sectional, descriptive, comparative study evaluates a sample of 89 pregnant women, between 14 and 44 years of age. Economical, social, demographic and alimentary consumption variables and nutritional conditions were studied. On the way, anthropometrics likeweight, height, and middle-arm circumference and Household food security scale were obtained. In order to perform the descriptive statistic, bivariate, and multiple linear regression analysis required during the investigation, the software SPSS, version 12, was used. Results: The predictive variables considered for the evaluation of the actual nutritional status in pregnant women were: right middle-arm circumference, household food security level and the supplementation with vitamins and/or minerals. These variables explain 78,2% of the actual nutritional status variation in this sample. Therefore, this investigation highlights the importance of the research on simple variables, as a good prediction of the actual nutritional status in pregnant women, with acceptable precision values and without requiring hightrained personnel to perform it. Under these findings, is ery important the study of more predictive variables to evaluate the nutritional and alimentary conditions, with practical and easy mechanisms that can be applied by non-technical personnel. Conclusion: It is recommended to go deep into the study of methods, which evaluate the nutrition in an easy and practical way, applied by non-technical personnel, besides continuing the validation process of the variable combinations determined as predictive of the nutritional status.

Palabras clave : Actual nutritional state; Pregnant; Household Food Security; Anthropometrics; Venezuela.

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