OBJECTIVES:

The aim of this study is to assess the prevalence of anemia associated with intestinal parasitic infection, as well as to identify the most frequent parasites, the most affected age group and developmental factors.

METHODS:

This is a descriptive systematic review based on the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) model, including articles published between 2014 and 2018, in English and Portuguese languages, based on the databases of Google Scholar, PubMed (National Library of Medicine), and Virtual Health Library, using the combination of the descriptors "prevalence of anemia associated with parasitic diseases, Brazil". Following the individual analysis by three reviewers, article reviews, experimental researches with animal, clinical case studies, non-open access journals, duplicate articles on such websites, studies relating anemia to other diseases describing the presence of either anemias or parasites were excluded from this study.

RESULTS:

A total of 1,697 articles were found in the databases which 10 were selected and showed an average association of anemia and intestinal parasites of 11.4% in the South, 13.1% in the Northeast, and 3.5% in the Midwest Region. In the Northern Region, no statistical association was performed. The most frequent parasites were Entamoeba coli, Giardia lamblia, and Endolimax nana. Most studies involving children and teenagers up to 14 years old.

CONCLUSION:

The findings of the current study showed that the prevalence of parasite associated with anemia in Brazil is important when there is a higher frequency of pathogenic parasites in the population studied, reinforcing the need for extensive prevalence studies.

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