Evaluation of anemia frequency and etiologies in hospitalized patients in a tertiary pediatrics clinic

Abstract

Objective: Anemia, which is a public health problem on a global scale, continues to maintain its importance in pediatric patients. There are few studies on the prevalence of anemia in hospitalized children. This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence and etiologies of anemia in hospitalized pediatric patients. Material and Method: This is a cross-sectional epidemiological study. The study group consists of 1000 patients between the ages of 6 months and 18 years who were hospitalized in the Department of Pediatrics of Prof. Dr. Cemil Tascioglu City Hospital. The data of the patients were reviewed retrospectively. The SPSS 22.0 program was used for statistical analyzes and calculations and p< 0.05 was accepted for significance. Results: Of the patients included in the study, 569 (56.9%) were male, and 431 (43.1%) were female. In the study, the number of patients with anemia was 276 (27.6%), and among those 151 (26.5%) were male and 125 (29.0%) were female. The highest rate of anemia in different age groups was in infancy, with 32.3%. The number of patients with iron deficiency anemia was 121 (43.8%), anemia of chronic disease was 42 (15.2%), anemia of acute inflammation was 41 (14.9%), and anemia due to B12 deficiency was 31 (11.2%). It was determined that patients with anemia had a longer hospital stay than those without anemia. Moreover, the hospitalization period of patients with anemia of chronic disease was longer than those with iron deficiency anemia. Conclusion: Anemia is an important problem in hospitalized children as well as in the general population. Iron deficiency is the most common etiology of anemia in hospitalized patients in the pediatric clinic similar to the general population. The hospitalization period was found to be significantly longer in anemic patients than in non-anemic patients. During hospitalization, children should be monitored for anemia and this duration of stay should be regarded as an opportunity to combat anemia or to provide necessary micronutrient or nutritional support to socioeconomically disadvantaged groups.