Vigilância alimentar e nutricional na atenção básica: importância da capacitação em antropometria

Abstract

Introduction: Nutritional monitoring enables the determination of the nutritional status of individuals and collectivities, and their results need to be reliable and comparable, requiring standardization and qualification in anthropometric measurements. Objective: To evaluate the measurements performed by health professionals in anthropometry training. Methods: Crosssectional study, conducted from April to June 2019, of training of professionals from 32 units of primary care/family health. The activity lasted 4 hours and happened in the health unit or in a nutritional assessment laboratory. After a theoretical approach on anthropometric techniques, with the aid of didactic video, all professionals measured the measures, in duplicate, in four anthropometry stations: height, weight in mechanical balance, weight in digital scale and circumference of Waist. Results: It was found that inadequate posture was the most common error in the four measurements (43.7; 52.5; 55.0 and 72.7%, respectively): waist circumference was measured with error by 96.5% of the professionals; Weight on the mechanical balance had more errors (80.6%) Compared to digital (74.9%). The measured measurement with less error was stature (66.5%). Conclusion: There are important errors in the measurement of anthropometric measurements and training was essential to increase knowledge in standardized techniques.