Prevalence of anemia in school children in the age group of 8 to 14 years in Thiruvarur, Tamilnadu, India

ABSTRACT

Background: Iron deficiency is responsible for most of the nutritional anemia. Hemoglobin concentration is a reliable indicator of anemia at the population level, as opposed to clinical measures which are subjective and therefore have more room for error. Measuring Hemoglobin concentration is relatively easy and inexpensive, and this measurement is frequently used as a proxy indicator of iron deficiency. To study the association of certain risk factors with the prevalence of anemia in school children in the age group of 8-14 years.Methods: The study was conducted from April 2017 to March 2018 in Department of Paediatrics, Government Thiruvarur Medical College, Thiruvarur. The study population consisted of school children in the age group of 8 to 14 years fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The sample size was 250. Complete hematological investigations was done to each child for differential diagnosis of anemia.Results: Majority of the children studied had a normal BMI 38.4% (n=96), 16.8% (n=42) were classified as overweight, 9.2% (n=23) were classified as obese. 22.8% (n=57) were classified as having thinness. 12.8% (n=32) were classified as having severe thinness. Of the 132 children with anemia, majority had mild anemia 64.39% (n=85) followed by moderate 28.03% (n=37) and severe anemia 7.58% (n=10). Of the 132 children with anemia, majority had mild anemia 64.39% (n=85) followed by moderate 28.03% (n=37) and severe anemia 7.58% (n=10).Conclusions: The prevalence of anemia was significantly higher in female children (64.91%) compared to male children (42.65%). The prevalence of anemia is highest in children with severe thinness (78.13%) followed by children with obesity (73.91%). The most common type of anemia in our study was iron deficiency anemia. Majority of the children were suffering from anemia of mild severity. There was no statistically significant correlation between the prevalence of anemia in children and age and socioeconomic status.