frequency of iron deficiency anemia and thalassemia trait among children: experience at Prince Rashed Bin Al-Hassan Military Hospital

ABSTRACT

To determine the frequency of iron deficiency anemia and thalassemia trait among children attending the Pediatric Department at Prince Rashed Bin Al-Hassan Military Hospital in the North of Jordan. This hospital based study was conducted in the year 2008 on 1,012 children aged 6 months to 14 years who attended the Pediatric Department at Prince Rashed Bin Al-Hassan Military Hospital in North of Jordan using fully automated blood cell counter for of the mean corpuscular volume, serum ferritin level and high performance liquid chromography, or genotyping. None of the subjects included in the study had been on any hematinic in the previous six months, had infection in the past one month or had a chronic disease. The diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia was defined as mean corpuscular volume ferritin level < 7 ng/ml of the serum [normal reference range 7 - 140 ng/ml]. The diagnosis of thalassemia trait, for subjects with normal or high serum ferritin and those whose mean corpuscular volume was non-compliant to iron therapy, was obtained by high performance liquid chromography or polymerase chain reaction, which was performed at Princess Eman Research and Laboratory Science Center. The frequency of iron deficiency anemia and thalassemia trait was 13.3% and 5.8% respectively. They were equally frequent among males and females. The age specific-rate was as follows 6 months to 2 years 7.4% iron deficiency anemia and 1.3% thalassemia trait, 2 - 6 years 3.1% iron deficiency anemia and 2.5% thalassemia trait, 6 - 12 years 1.6% iron deficiency anemia and 1.2% thalassemia trait and 12-14 years 1.3% iron deficiency anemia and 0.9% thalassemia trait. The frequency of iron deficiency anemia [13.3%] and thalassemia trait [5.8%] among children in North of Jordan was estimated by statistical measurement of mean corpuscular volume fL. It is a strong cost effective predictor in the majority of cases. The red-blood indices complemented with serum ferritin and high performance liquid or polymerase chain reaction are of value for precise diagnosis