[Nutritional aspects associated with chronic Trypanosoma cruzi (Chagas 1909) infection among older adults: Bambuí Project].

The aim of the study was to verify nutritional aspects associated with chronic Trypanosoma cruzi infection among baseline participants from the Bambuí cohort study on aging. The analysis included 84.9% (1,479) of residents of Bambuí, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, who were 60 years or older in 1997. T. cruzi infection was investigated by three serological tests, and nutritional status was assessed by anthropometric and biochemical variables. Associations were evaluated by prevalence ratios and confidence intervals (95%CI) using Poisson regression. T. cruzi infection was present in 38.1% of patients. All anthropometric variables were significantly associated with infection, showing lower values among patients with positive serology. No biochemical variables were associated with infection. The results showed the coexistence of chronic Chagas disease and poor nutritional status in the study population, reinforcing the importance of nutritional evaluation among elderly people presenting chronic T. cruzi infection.