Very low prevalence of iron deficiency among young French children: A national cross‐sectional hospital‐based survey

Abstract

Although iron deficiency (ID) is considered the most frequent micronutrient deficiency in industrialized countries and is associated with impaired neurodevelopment when occurring in early years, accurate recent estimations of its prevalence are lacking. Our objective was to estimate ID prevalence and associated sociodemographic markers in young children in France. The Saturn-Inf national cross-sectional hospital-based survey recruited 3,831 French children <6 years old between 2008 and 2009 to assess lead poisoning prevalence and to establish a biobank. This secondary analysis measured serum ferritinemia (SF) in sera kept frozen at −80°C for children with sufficient serum aliquots and C-reactive protein <10 mg/L. For the 657 participating children (17% of the Saturn-Inf study), the median age was 3.9 years (interquartile range: 2.2-5.1); 52% were boys. The median SF was 44 μg/L (interquartile range: 28-71). ID prevalence was 2.8% (95% confidence interval Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; CRP, C-reactive protein; ID, iron deficiency; n, number of observations; SF, serum ferritinemia

Iron‐fortified formula use in young children and association with socioeconomic factors in the French nationwide ELFE cohort

“…This ascending rate was found in a population with a high socioeconomic level after statistical correction of the selection bias by weighting. The confirmation of a suboptimal implementation among disadvantaged families reinforces the need to develop new strategies to reach these families, who are at risk of ID, as shown in several studies including recent ones in France . Knowledge, attitudes and practice surveys may be useful to better understand existing implementation barriers and to prepare educational messages and tools for general and high‐risk populations.…”

“…In the present study, many factors associated with lack of implementation of the French strategy for ID prevention by IFF use were linked to low economic level: low monthly household income, parents' unemployment, family health coverage fully funded publicly or single motherhood. Low economic level is well known to be associated with ID (2,4,7) and the lack of IFF use in some preliminary reports (14,23). These results are also consistent with those showing that the early use of cow's milk is associated with low economic level in Europe and the United States (29).…”

“…As for any universal health policy based on parental education, one of the main challenges for ID preventive strategies is to reach disadvantaged parents with low educational level or socioeconomic status, the main risk factors for ID in young children . Thus, postimplementation surveys are crucial to evaluate the impact of preventive strategies, notably among these populations.…”

Food Insecurity and Major Diet-Related Morbidities in Migrating Children: A Systematic Review

“…Iron status, using the storage protein ferritin as a proxy, was assessed by Sacri et al [61], who performed a cross-sectional hospital-based study in France on 657 children from 6 months to 6 years with no signs of active inflammation (CRP < 10 mg/L), because it might influence serum ferritin status. 14% had a migrant mother.…”

Stability of serum ferritin measured by immunoturbidimetric assay after storage at -80°C for several years

“…They reported comparable SF levels measures except if stored at +32°C [ 21 – 23 ]. However, in these studies, the time interval between the two measures was 13 months maximum, a short period compared to the times commonly encountered in birth-cohort or large-scale cohort studies [ 24 ]. Only one study compared SF levels after storage at -25°C during 2 years and 25 years with 1-month-old samples [ 25 ] and found notable percentage differences in mean SF level values: -12.1% and -18.5% after 2 and 25 years, respectively.…”