Abstract

Anemia in children is one of the major social health problems in India and in many parts of the world and prevalence rate of anemia is an important indicator of the nutritional status within the pediatric population. There is an estimate that 25% of the world population is affected by Iron Deficiency, the population groups most affected being infants aged between 4 and 24 months, school-age children, female adolescents, pregnant women and nurturing mothers. Infants and young children have a high risk for developing iron deficiency because they have a high demand for iron during the period of rapid growth. Iron deficiency leading to anemia will manifest itself as a Microcytic Hypochromic Anemia. Microcytosis develops either prior to or along with any reduction in hemoglobin levels. Hence the incidental detection of an isolated low Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) result could indicate early Iron Deficiency that has not yet resulted in anemia. Measurement of Serum Iron, Total Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC) & Serum Ferritin has been adopted as a test for detecting Iron Deficiency. The present study is undertaken to evaluate the occurrence of Iron Deficiency Anemia among the pediatric age group (1-12 years) with due importance for assessing the Serum Ferritin levels.

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