Prevalence of Iron Deficiency Anemia and Iron Deficiency Without Anemia Among Moderate and Severely Acute Malnourished Children

Background: Iron deficiency remains one of the globally recognized leading causes of morbidity and mortality in children, among developing countries like India as compared to the Western world.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and iron deficiency without anemia (IDWA) among malnourished children.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department Of Pediatrics, Tertiary Care Hospital, Western Rajasthan. Demographic data and serum samples were collected and analyzed. Hematological and biochemical values were determined for 300 children aged 6 months to 59 months.

Results: A total of 93.9% of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) children and 83.24% of moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) children had anemia as per WHO definition, with moderate anemia (47.66%) being the predominant type of anemia. About 64% of children showed iron deficiency with a prevalence of IDA and IDWA being 94.27% and 5.72%, respectively. The mean values of serum ferritin, serum iron, serum total iron binding capacity (TIBC), and transferrin saturation in children with IDWA were 8.34±2.85, 17.43±7.57, 454.09±40.76, and 4.09±1.44, respectively.

Conclusion: The proportion of anemic children in both SAM and MAM groups was very high. Our study shows that more than 60% of the MAM and SAM children were iron deficient. We recommend future measures for the prevention and control of anemia, including increased coverage of nutritional supplementation, fortification programs, and supplement iron in this sub-group (IDWA) to take care of their symptoms due to iron deficiency even before the development of overt IDA.