OBJECTIVES: to review the articles published between 1997 and 2010 with representative population samples for children under six years, estimating prevalence of anemia and/or iron deficiency and their associated factors by laboratorial analyses of hemoglobin or ferritin. METHODS: articles were systematically reviewed using the following keywords searched on the PubMed, SciELO and LILACS databases: anemia, iron-deficiency; anemia, iron-deficiency/epidemiology; anemia, iron-deficiency/etiology; child, preschool e risk factors. RESULTS: factors which presented statistical association to anemia/iron-deficiency included: children's age, maternal scholar, familiar income, diarrhea, geographic area, household wealth index, birth weight, height/age indicator, weight/height indicator, ethnics, sex, iron density and calories from cow milk. Children´s age was a common factor in the international and national studies. Maternal scholar and socioeconomics and environment factors showed association with anemia in the development regions studies. Overweight and passive smoking appear as slow investigated variables. CONCLUSIONS: study analyzes shows the multiplicity of anemia/iron-deficiency associated factors at different contexts.
Anemia; Child; Risk factors; Iron deficiency
