Associação entre estado nutricional e infecção assintomática por Leishmania infantum em moradores de áreas endêmicas para leishmaniose visceral no município de Teresina, Piauí

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is an important neglected disease in Brazil, particularly due to its severity, geographic expansion and association with poverty. In this perspective, nutritional features emerge as elements to be considered in understanding its epidemiological pattern, potentially acting as risk factors for developing disease after infection or as prognostic factors. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between nutritional status and infection by in residents of endemic areas for VL Leishmania infantum in Teresina, Piauí. METHODS: This is a cross sectional study conducted in neighborhoods of high endemicity for disease, with 198 individuals between 2 and 65 years of age. Weight and height were obtained at the household by trained staff. For adults, nutritional status was assessed by the body mass index (BMI). For children and adolescents anthropometric indexes were used (weight/age, height/age, weight/height and also BMI/age). Infection by L. infantum was evaluated using the Montenegro skin test (MST). Multivariate logistic regression was used for estimating odds ratios (OR) and respective confidence intervals (95%). RESULTS: Prevalence of asymptomatic infection was 32.6%. The prevalence of overweight was 52% among adults (BMI ? 25 kg/m²) and 23.9% among children and young people (score-z of BMI/age > 1). Subjects with overweight, both adults and those up to 19 years presented increased odds of infection of about 70% as compared to eutrophic individuals (p>0.05 for both). CONCLUSION: Although not statistically significant, the association between asymptomatic infection with L. infantum and overweight suggests that they might be at higher risk of infection due to deficits in micronutrient which are necessary for an adequate specific immune response. To test this hypothesis, longitudinal studies to evaluate the role of dietary intake and micronutrient profile in the risk of infection with L. infantum in this population are required.