[Eating behavior disorders in Chilean infants, according to socioeconomic level]

The eating behavior disorders in infants (EDI) are frequently diagnosed in children; however, information about their characteristics or differences by socioeconomic level (SL) in Chile and Latin America, are missing. The objective was to characterize the urban Chilean infants with EDI, according to socioeconomic level. Sixty seven children were studied (4-24 months of age). The study group (SG) was constituted by 34 children attending clinics because of EDI: 18 belonged to low SL (LSL) and 16 to middle or high income groups (MHSL). Thirty three without EDI served as controls (CG), and were paired by age, gender and SL with SG (15 of them belonged to LSL and 18 to MHSL). A semi structured survey was applied to parents or caretakers. Children from LSL were studied at Primary Health Care Centers and those from MHSL at private clinics. The results showed: the mean weight/age z-score (W/A) was lower in the SG especially in LSL (SG: -0.9 +/- 1.0; CG: 0.5 +/- 0.9; p = 0.0001), the height/age z-score (z H/A) in SG was: -1.0 +/- 1.0 and in CG was: -0.3 +/- 0.8; p = 0.01) and the birth weight was SG = 3.1 +/- 0.5 kg; CG =3 .6 +/- 0.4 kg; (p = 0.001), were lower only for the SG of LSL. In the MHSL, exclusive breast feeding 4m was more frequent in the SG than the CG and the mothers worked more hours daily outside of their homes (7.6 +/- 4,1 vs 5.4 +/- 1.8 h/d; p = 0.007). As conclusions, the Chilean infants with eating behavior disorders had lower z WIA and lower z W/L than those with no EDI, independent of socioeconomic level. The infants of LSL with EDI also had lower z H/A and also lower birth weight than controls. In the medium-high socioeconomic level, those with eating disorders presented shorter breast feeding (< or = 4 m) and their mothers worked more hours daily outside of their homes, than those without eating disorders.