Lymphocyte subpopulations in preschool Venezuelan children of high socioeconomic status

• Published in: Archivos latinoamericanos de nutrición Vol. 54; no. 2; p. 196
• Main Authors: Llovera, Daisy, Solano Rodríguez, Liseti
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Venezuela 01.06.2004
• Subjects: Anthropometry; Child; Child, Preschool; Cross-Sectional Studies; Female; Humans; Lymphocyte Count - standards; Lymphocyte Subsets; Male; Nutritional Status - immunology; Reference Values; Social Class; Venezuela; Zinc - blood; Venezuela
• ISSN: 0004-0622

Nutrition is a critical determinant of immune response being the most common cause of immunodeficiency in the world. 104 preschool children, apparently healthy, from a private school were chosen to determine lymphocyte subpopulations and to evaluate its relationship to the anthropometric nutritional status and serum zinc. Nutritional status was measured by the indicator weight for height, lymphocyte subpopulations by flow cytometry and serum zinc by atomic absorption spectrophotometry A high percentage of the population (87.5%) belonged to socioeconomic level II (Graffar). Nutritional deficit was present in 9.5 percent of the studied children, while 16.2% were overweight. Values for lymphocytes subpopulations and serum zinc were within reference ranges, similar to other reports and there were no significant differences by sex, age or nutritional status. Low concentrations of serum zinc were present in 6.7% of children. There was a tendency to lower values of the T lymphocyte populations in hypozincemic children but it did not reach statistical significance. As there are not reference values for lymphocyte subpopulation in Venezuelan children, these results could be used as reference for future investigations. Continuity of research is needed to understand relationship of micronutrients levels and immune response.