Diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia in children of Northeast Brazil


Autoria(s): Carvalho,Antonio Geraldo Cidrão; Lira,Pedro Israel Cabral de; Barros,Maria de Fátima Alcântara; Aléssio,Maria Luiza Martins; Lima,Marília de Carvalho; Carbonneau,Marie Annette; Berger,Jacques; Léger,Claude Louis
Data(s)

01/06/2010

Resumo

OBJECTIVE: To diagnose iron deficiency anemia in children. METHODS: The study was conducted with a sample of 301 children aged six to 30 months attending public daycare centers in the city of Recife, Northeast Brazil, in 2004. The diagnoses of anemia were based on a combination of different hematological and biochemical parameters: hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume, ferritin, C-reactive protein, transferrin saturation and transferrin receptor. The chi-square test and ANOVA were used in the statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of all children studied, 92.4% had anemia (Hb <110 g/L) and 28.9% had moderate/severe anemia (Hb <90 g/L). Lower levels of hemoglobin were found in children aged 6-17 months. Iron deficiency was found in 51.5% of children using ferritin (<12 μg/L) as parameter. Taking into consideration the combination of hemoglobin level, ferritin and transferrin receptor, 58.1% had anemia with iron deficiency, 34.2% had anemia without iron deficiency and 2.3% had iron deficiency without anemia. Mean ferritin concentration was significantly higher in children with high C-reactive protein when compared with those with normal levels (22.1 vs. 14.8 µg/L). CONCLUSIONS: The use of several biochemical and hematological parameters allowed to diagnosing iron deficiency anemia in two thirds of children, suggesting a need to identify other determinants of anemia without iron deficiency.

Formato

text/html

Identificador

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-89102010000300015

Idioma(s)

en

Publicador

Faculdade de Saúde Pública da Universidade de São Paulo

Fonte

Revista de Saúde Pública v.44 n.3 2010

Palavras-Chave #Anemia, Iron Deficiency/diagnosis #Ferritins/blood #Laboratory Techniques and Procedures #Hematologic Tests #Iron Deficiency/prevention #Iron Deficiency/control #Infant Nutrition #Child Nutrition
Tipo

journal article