A study on the Iron status In Iron Deficiency
Anaemia one month before and after
Iron Therapy in school going children
324-327
Correspondence
Dr Presenjit Raut, Asst. Prof. (Pharmacology), Pt. JNM medical
college, Raipur, CG-492001
Phone: 09039267377
Objective 1) To determine the iron status (Hb, MCV, MCH, MCHC, RDW, Serum Iron, TIBC and Serum Ferritin) before iron therapy in school going children. 2) To determine the haemoglobin concentration after one month of iron therapy in children whose haemoglobin concentrations were lower for the given age and sex. 3) To evaluate the therapeutic outcomes of the oral iron therapy.
A total of hundred anaemic children from three government schools of Raipur city were subjected to anthropometric, iron status and clinical examinations before they underwent iron therapy and the response to therapeutic iron was assessed by the estimation of the haemoglobin percentage after one month following the administration of ferrous sulphate, 6mg/kg body weight along with folic acid. Not a single patient withdrew from the study because of adverse effects.
A significant increase in the haemoglobin (p<0.009) level was observed in both boys and girls after 30 days of iron supplementation.
A total of hundred anaemic children were subjected for the study. In all the 100 children, clinical pallor was the first finding(in 100%), followed by fatigue (in 54%), weakness (in 38%), anorexia (in 18%) and icterus (in 5%). The commonest blood picture was that of microcytic hypochromic. Age dependent MCV, MCH, MCHC and RDW showed that the maximum number of cases had below normal MCV, MCH and MCHC values. RDW values were increased in 74% cases, 82% cases had serum iron values below normal (<50μg/dl) and 91% cases had TIBC values above the normal range. The serum ferritin levels in 35% children was <15ng/ml (in 18% boys and in 17% girls). The nutritional status according to the IAP classification showed that by weight, 19% children were well nourished and that 81% were undernourished. The mean and SD of Hb before therapy was 8.60 ± 2.05 and after therapy, it was 9.55±1.88 respectively.
An early diagnosis of anaemia can be made by assessing the serum ferritin levels and this has been found to be more reliable. If iron is given in the early stages of anaemia to children, the response is quite significant.