Anemia and nutritional aspects in adolescent athletes: a cross-sectional study in a reference sport organization

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between anemia and nutritional aspects in adolescent athletes from a large sport club. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study, involving 298 athletes aged between 10 and 17 years, submitted to measurement of skin folds, weight and height, and collection of capillary blood in duplicate to determine hemoglobin values. It was carried out in a random sample composed of athletes from eight sport modalities. RESULTS: Regarding nutritional status, 10.1% of athletes were overweight based on body mass index and 70 (23.5%) athletes had a percentage of body fat classified as high or very high. The prevalence of anemia was 16.4%, being more prevalent in judo (37.1%), basketball (34%) and futsal (20.5%) athletes. Low hemoglobin levels were significantly associated with shorter stature (p=0.006). CONCLUSIONS: There was a significant association between anemia and short stature, suggesting that the athlete's height-weight development may be affected in suboptimal conditions of oxygen distribution.