Abstract
Background:
Social determinants interfere in the health-disease process of the riverside population, associated with territorial isolation and restricted access to health goods and services.
Objective:
The objective of this study was to identify factors associated with the health conditions of children and adolescents and their mothers, from two riverside communities on the Madeira River, Amazonas, Brazil.
Method:
A cross-sectional study was carried out in April and August 2017 in two riverside communities in the Amazon, with mothers, children, and adolescents up to 19 years old. Sociodemographic conditions and maternal and health characteristics of children and adolescents were evaluated. Poisson regression analysis was performed using Stata 13.
Results:
Of the 94 participating mothers, 56.4% declared their children’s health conditions as fair to bad. The regular and poor health condition of children and adolescents was associated with the place of residence, number of appliances, daily consumption of snacks, sweets, and artificial juice, having a chronic disease, and having a history of hospitalization once in a lifetime (p<0.05). In the adjusted model, only hospitalization had a statistically significant association (PR=1.60; 1.13–2.26) with regular and poor health.
Conclusion:
Children and adolescents in the evaluated communities are vulnerable to illness due to precarious socioeconomic factors, sanitary conditions, and low access to health services.
Keywords:
health status; rural population; child health; adolescent health; Amazonian ecosystem