Anaemia Status in young Children / Эрүүл мэндийн лаборатори

ABSTRACT

Introduction@#The high rate of malnutrition in young children remains a serious public health issue. Intervention strategies aimed to rectify this situation have succeeded in reducing anaemia, with levels falling to 28.5%. Even so, anaemia levels are still unacceptably high, especially among infants aged 6 to 24 months. @*Goal@#The aim of this survey was to investigate the prevalence of anaemia and iron and folate deficiencies that may contribute to the relatively high rates of anaemia among children aged 6 to 36 months. @*Subjects and methods@#This study involved 243 apparently healthy children (122 boys, 121 girls) from Ulaanbaatar city and Bulgan, Bayankhongor, Dornod and Khovd aimags aged 6 to 36 months with no evidence of infection within the previous 7 days. Ethical approval of the study was obtained from the Medical Ethics Committee of the Mongolian Ministry of Health. Written informed consents were obtained from the guardians of each child. </br> Morning, non-fasting venipuncture blood samples were used for the determination of the levels of hemoglobin by the hemoglobinometer, of ferritin by the microparticle enzyme immunoassays technology and of folate by the microtiter technique. </br> The statistical analysis of test results was carried out using SPSS program, with a p-value <0.05 indicating statistical significance. @*Results@#The mean hemoglobin and ferritin concentrations were the highest in the oldest children (i.e., 24 to 36 months). The mean values for hemoglobin were higher in the participants from Ulaanbaatar, whereas the ferritin levels were higher in their counterparts from the rural settings. </br> Overall, 24% of the children were anaemic. Anaemia prevalence was greater among the children in the rural area than in Ulaanbaatar. The prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia was 15%, and unlike anaemia, was independent of setting. The oldest children aged 24 to 36 months had the lowest prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia in both Ulaanbaatar and the rural area. </br> The mean serum folate concentration was 19.9 nmol/L. The concentrations decreased with age in both settings, although the mean values in Ulaanbaatar were significantly higher for each age group than those for the rural settings. Only 4% of the children had folate deficiency. None of the participants in Ulaanbaatar had low serum folate concentrations. In the rural settings, the oldest children had the highest prevalence of folate deficiency. @*Conclusion@#The prevalence of anaemia and iron deficiency anaemia is high among children aged 6 to 36 months. This finding emphasizes the necessity for programs that supply young children and their mothers with micronutrients such as iron and folate.