Iron deficiency among non-anemic under-five children in Enugu, South-East, Nigeria

Abstract

Background:Iron deficiency has been described as the world most common nutritional deficiency and the commonest cause of nutritional anemia in infancy and childhood. The deleterious behavioral and cognitive deficit associated with iron-deficiency anemia could be irreversible. Therefore, the latter should be prevented by early detection of iron deficiency in the non-anemic groups.Aim:To determine the prevalence of iron deficiency in the non-anemic under-five children and to document its variation among the age classes of these children.Subjects and Methods:Under-five children presenting at a tertiary hospital were consecutively enrolled, Serum ferritin levels of the subjects were used to assess the iron status and serum ferrritin level of less than 12 ng/ml was considered as iron deficiency. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 15.0. Chi-square tests were employed as necessary for test of significance in each of the characteristics of the population at P ≤ 0.05.Results:A total of 178 non anemic under-five children were studied, their mean hematocrit and serum ferrritin values were 35.5 (2.8%) and 54.9 (76.1) ng/ml respectively. Forty-nine (27.5% [49/178]) of the study population was iron deficient and there was no significant difference in the prevalence of iron deficiency among the age classes (P = 0.75).Conclusion:This study has documented a high prevalence of iron deficiency in non-anemic under-five children presenting at the outpatient department and emergency room of a tertiary health facility in Enugu. All the age classes were relatively affected. A further research into the causes of iron deficiency in this age group is recommended.

Clinical and biochemical profile of iron deficiency state in preanemic under 5 children in a tertiary care hospital

“…A study done by Ekwochi U et al, from December 2009 to June 2010 in Nigeria on 178 children in the age range of 2 months to 59 months, the mean serum ferritin value was found to be 54.9 ng/ml which was almost similar to our study. 5 Most of the children with iron deficiency state belong to lower socioeconomic class in our study, which was also documented in the above study where 45% of study population belong to lower socioeconomic class. 5 The overall prevalence of ID state in all age groups in our study based on low serum ferritin was 16% and prevalence based on low transferrin saturation was 51%.…”

“…5 Most of the children with iron deficiency state belong to lower socioeconomic class in our study, which was also documented in the above study where 45% of study population belong to lower socioeconomic class. 5 The overall prevalence of ID state in all age groups in our study based on low serum ferritin was 16% and prevalence based on low transferrin saturation was 51%. In the same above study , the prevalence of Iron deficiency based on serum ferritin was 27.5 %.…”

“…In the same above study , the prevalence of Iron deficiency based on serum ferritin was 27.5 %. 5 In another study done by Dixon MB et al, which was done in different states of Nigeria in 2001 using serum ferritin model as indicator, 22.3% of children under 5 years of age were iron deficient. 6 In the study done by Haulizume M, Kunii O et al, in South America, ID based on serum ferritin was found to be 32.4% and in the study done by Cogswell ME, Looker AC et al on 848 children aged 3 to 5 years from National Health and nutrition examination Survey 2003-2006 the ID prevalence in them based on ferritin model was 4.5% and in our study it was 7% among that age group.…”

Prevalencia y factores sociodemográficos asociados a la deficiencia de ferritina en niños de Colombia, 2010

“…La regresión simple muestra que tener entre 12 a 23 meses (OR 5,3; IC 95%: 3,4-8,3), residir en la zona atlántico (OR 2,2; IC 95%: 1,3-3,9), o zona pacifica (OR 2,2; IC 95%: 1,3-3,9), y pertenecer al grupo étnico indígena (OR 2,1; IC 95%: 1,4-3,3); se asociaron estudio un 10,6% de los niños de Colombia presentaron deficiencia de ferritina, prevalencia menor a lo reportado por Ekwochi et al (13) y Jeremiah et al (14) en Nigeria, pero cercano a lo observado en España por Muñoz-Pérez et al (15) , en EE. UU.…”

“…Utilizando el punto de corte para la deficiencia de ferritina establecido por la OMS, se puede considerar la anemia como un problema de salud pública leve en la población estudiada (12) . Como se ha observado anteriormente en Colombia (5,6) y en otros países del mundo (12)(13)(14)(15)(16) , la prevalencia más alta de déficit de ferritina, fue hallada en los niños de 12 a 23 y 24 a 35 meses de edad con valores de 23,7 y 12,3% respectivamente, sin mayores diferencias por sexo.…”