ABSTRACT
Severe acute malnutrition results in a spectrum of pathological changes in the body including substantial aberrations in hematological system. Aim of the study was to compare children from nutritional rehabilitation center with children from general ward with respect to: hematological profile, prevalence, etiology and severity of anemia. A cross sectional analytical study was done on 350 children aged from 6 to 59 months admitted in M.G.M. Hospital, Warangal. The prevalence of anemia in cases from nutritional rehabilitation center was 89.0% and 45.7% in cases from general ward. 82% cases from nutritional rehabilitation center had microcytic hypochromic picture and 67.4% cases from general ward had normocytic normochromic picture in peripheral smear. Iron deficiency was the most common cause of anemia in both groups, i.e., 92.3% cases from nutritional rehabilitation center and 46.2% cases from general ward. Megaloblastic anemia in 6.5% cases from nutritional rehabilitation center and 7.5% cases from general ward.