Kirkuk Journal of Medical Sciences

Abstract

Background: Iron deficiency anemia is a common nutritional problem worldwide and present in developing countries more than developed country. Aims: 1. To assess how widespread is the Iron deficiency anemia among anemic children between 6 -24 months of age. 2. Study the significant relation of age, sex, and residence of children and education status of the mother of a child with I.D.A. 3. To illustrate the relation of feeding practices and the development of I.D.A. and the relation between nutritional status (Weight for age) of children and I.D.A. 4. To study the relation between gestational age and development of I.D.A. Patients and methods: This study is performed in Azadi Teaching Hospital in Kirkuk pediatric department during 2019 to investigate the prevalence of IDA in children between six months and 2 years of age. A detailed history taken and physical examination done. serum iron, total iron binding capacity and serum ferritin were checked for the anemic cases. Results: A total of (90) cases, 60 cases of them (66%) had anemia (P.C.V. less than 33%). Iron deficiency anemia constitutes 50 cases (55.5%) of all cases of anemia. The cases came to hospital complaining from pallor and poor appetite. The peak age incidence of I.D.A. was between 6-12 months of age. There was no great variation between affected males and females. Most of the cases (32) (64%) were referred from rural areas. It was noticed that artificial feeding was a common feeding practice in most of the cases. Seventy percent of cases were under 10th centile of their weight for age. A large numbers of mothers had low educational level .Also the mean age of early introduction of food was (5-12) month. Conclusion: 1. Peak age of Iron deficiency anemia (I.D.A) is between 6-12 months of age. 2. Iron deficiency anemia is more common among rural children. 3. The majority of infants with I.D.A. were underweight. 4. Early introduction of food from 6 months of age with bad nutritional supplement with no iron contents can lead to I.D.A.