A
cross-sectional study was conducted on a randomised sample of 405 children
aged 6-71 months in Brazil to investigate the association between nutritional status, environmental and socio-economic factors and Giardialamblia
infection. Data collection entailed an interview,
anthropometric measurements and the collection of
faeces and
venous blood samples. The analysis was performed using
multivariate logistic regression. The
prevalence rate for G. lamblia was 26.3%. Nutritional status evaluation showed that 7.9% of the children had chronic
malnutrition and 11.1% had acute
malnutrition. The
risk factors associated with
infection by G. lamblia were an age of 2 years or older [
odds ratio (OR)=2.4], living in a two-bedroom house or smaller (OR=2.3), living among a family of five or more people (OR=2.4) and living in a house without access to a sewerage system (OR=2.1). Non-participation in the social service programme was associated with a lower risk of
infection (OR=0.2). The model adjusted for age, including only biochemical and nutritional variables, showed weak associations with G. lamblia
infection for two variables: inadequate animal protein intake according to the
Dietary Reference Intake recommendation and low
haemoglobin concentration. The sociodemographic and environmental
risk factors classically described were associated with G. lamblia
infection, but nutritional variables were only weakly associated with it.
