Deficiência de ferro, prevalência de anemia e fatores associados em crian？as de creches públicas do oeste do Paraná, Brasil

objective: this study assessed the iron levels and prevalence of anemia and associated factors in children aged 6 to 24 months attending public daycare centers in cascavel, western paraná, brazil. methods: this cross-sectional study included 256 randomly sampled children. questionnaires were administered and anthropometric data and blood samples were collected from july to september 2007. iron status was determined by measuring transferrin level, hemoglobin level, mean corpuscular volume, serum iron level and eosinophil count. crude and adjusted (logistic regression) odds ratios and the respective significance levels (p-value) were obtained by statistical analysis. analysis of variance and the tukey's range test were used for identifying significant differences in the quantitative measurements. results: there was a 29.7% prevalence of anemia and 77.3% of the sample presented low iron levels. anthropometry did not indicate macronutrient deficiencies but revealed above-average obesity rates. the factors associated with anemia and iron deficiency were family members constantly becoming sick (or=10.02), poor living conditions (or=5.05), time attending a daycare center (or=3.05), number of individuals in the household (or=2.83) and absence of sanitation (or=2.20). conclusion: the prevalence of anemia and the high iron deficiency rate evidenced a severe public health problem regarding the preschool children from cascavel, paraná. despite the magnitude of the problem, anemia is not being detected, prevented and treated properly. this study suggests some possible interventions.