Anthropometric measurements as an indicator of nutritional status in spina bifida patients undergoing enterocystoplasty

OBJECTIVE To use anthropometric measurements to compare nutritional status in children with neurogenic bladder dysfunction secondary to meningomyelocele who underwent enterocystoplasty and those who did not undergo surgery. METHODS A case-control study was conducted in 20 children, divided into two groups: those who had enterocystoplasty (Group A) and those who did not undergo surgery (Group B), matched for genre and age. Weight, height, arm circumference, and triceps skinfold thickness were the parameters used. Nutritional assessment was determined by calculating the indexes, based on age and genre. Classification was based on the percentile and the results were compared with the reference values. RESULTS The mean age was 6.41 years in Group A and 6.35 years in Group B. The interval between surgery and evaluation was 11 months. The following measures were found for Group A: 80% of children were eutrophic, a percentage 30% greater than that in Group B; arm muscle circumference was adequate in 40% of patients, a percentage 20% greater than that in Group B; arm muscle area was adequate in 90%, a percentage 30% greater than that in Group B. Values in Group B were as follows: for triceps skinfold thickness, 60% of patients had values above the mean, a percentage 20% greater than that in Group A; for arm fat index, 60% of patients were above the mean value, 40% greater than in Group A. CONCLUSION Patients who had undergone enterocystoplasty showed better nutritional status, while the control group presented higher fat indexes in anthropometric measures. However, the differences between groups were not statistically significant.