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. 2024 Jul 29;16(7):e65633.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.65633. eCollection 2024 Jul.

Prevalence of Iron Deficiency Anemia and Iron Deficiency Without Anemia Among Moderate and Severely Acute Malnourished Children

Suhas H S  1 , Manoj Kumar  1 , Tamanna Choudhary  1 , Vikash Katewa  1 , Pramod Sharma  1
Affiliations

Prevalence of Iron Deficiency Anemia and Iron Deficiency Without Anemia Among Moderate and Severely Acute Malnourished Children

Suhas H S et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Background: Iron deficiency remains one of the globally recognized leading causes of morbidity and mortality in children, among developing countries like India as compared to the Western world.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and iron deficiency without anemia (IDWA) among malnourished children.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department Of Pediatrics, Tertiary Care Hospital, Western Rajasthan. Demographic data and serum samples were collected and analyzed. Hematological and biochemical values were determined for 300 children aged 6 months to 59 months.

Results: A total of 93.9% of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) children and 83.24% of moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) children had anemia as per WHO definition, with moderate anemia (47.66%) being the predominant type of anemia. About 64% of children showed iron deficiency with a prevalence of IDA and IDWA being 94.27% and 5.72%, respectively. The mean values of serum ferritin, serum iron, serum total iron binding capacity (TIBC), and transferrin saturation in children with IDWA were 8.34±2.85, 17.43±7.57, 454.09±40.76, and 4.09±1.44, respectively.

Conclusion: The proportion of anemic children in both SAM and MAM groups was very high. Our study shows that more than 60% of the MAM and SAM children were iron deficient. We recommend future measures for the prevention and control of anemia, including increased coverage of nutritional supplementation, fortification programs, and supplement iron in this sub-group (IDWA) to take care of their symptoms due to iron deficiency even before the development of overt IDA.

Keywords: iron deficiency anemia; iron deficiency without anemia; moderate acute malnutrition; s ferritin; severe acute malnutrition.

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Conflict of interest statement

Human subjects: Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Institutional Ethics Committee, Dr. S. N. Medical College, Jodhpur, India issued approval SNMC/IEC/2022/1764-1765. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

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