Execução da vigilância alimentar e nutricional em idosos nos municípios do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

Introduction: Aging, which is considered a natural process, causes many anatomical and functional changes that affect the health status of individuals as well as their nutritional status. In this sense, the Food and Nutritional Surveillance System aims to generate information on the population's food and nutritional situation. Objective: To describe the implementation of Food and Nutritional Surveillance in the elderly in municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul. Methods: Cross-sectional study, divided into two phases, in phase 1 the 497 municipalities in the state, which make up the 19 Regional Health Coordinations, had their coverage of nutritional status of the elderly evaluated in 2019 based on public domain data available on SISVAN Web. The calculation of coverage was obtained from information from the 2010 IBGE Census. The result of the calculation was multiplied by 100 to indicate the percentage of the population covered by the system. Afterwards, the mean and median coverage was performed. In phase 2, a survey was conducted with those responsible for Food Surveillance in the municipalities through an online questionnaire. An initial telephone contact was made with the managers of all the Regional Health Coordinations, to explain about the research objectives and the request for contact by those responsible for Food and Nutritional Surveillance in the municipalities. After acceptance, the questionnaire was sent via Google Forms for completion. The semi-structured questionnaire consisted of 41 questions, referring to the functioning of Food and Nutritional Surveillance and with open questions that sought to identify the general view. The median coverage of the nutritional status of the elderly in 2019 was calculated, and the municipalities divided into higher and lower coverage. Simple descriptive statistical analysis of the variables presented in the questionnaire was performed. Results: The coverage of the nutritional status of the elderly in 2019, according to data from the system, ranged from 0 to 93.8% in the 61 municipalities that participated in the survey, 91.8% of those responsible for Food and Nutritional Surveillance were nutritionists, 41 % did not collect food consumption data. Most of the data were collected during nutritional care, and most of the data were typed in the e-Sus for both nutritional status and food consumption, 95.1% of respondents reported having a scale in sufficient quantity and in good quantities. conditions of use, as well as the stadiometer, however they stated that there was no training for data collection and that most municipalities had only one typist. The priority target audience for data collection according to life stages was children. Conclusion: The study results point to the need for greater awareness of managers and professionals about the importance of Food and Nutritional Surveillance and the panorama of the population's food and nutrition situation through the SISVAN Web. The study's findings can contribute to understanding the main challenges faced by health professionals to obtain a survey of the food and nutritional situation of the population using Primary Health Care.