Abstract

REBOSO PEREZ, José; CABRERA NUNEZ, Elixandra; RODRIGUEZ, Gisela Pita  and  JIMENEZ ACOSTA, Santa. Iron deficiency anemia in children aged 6 to 24 months and 6 to 12 years. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2005, vol.31, n.4, pp. 0-0. ISSN 1561-3127.

A cross-sectional study was conducted in the second semester of the year 2003 to diagnose the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia in children aged 6 to 24 months and in school children aged 6 to 12 years, who live in the City of Guantánamo. The sample was made up of 200 children. Hemoglobin concentration and serum ferritin were determined by cyanometahemoglobin method and enzyme immunoassay respectively. Anemia prevalence was 35.8% in up to 2 years olds and 22% in school children. No child in any group had hemoglobin values indicative of serious anemia. A significant difference was found between hemoglobin values and the teaching system (p=0,01). Of the total number of anemic children, 86.4% attended the school as day students. According to serum ferritin concentrations, the prevalence of iron deficiency was 57.6%. In the first group, 74.2% of children were exclusively breast-fed up to the 4th month of life. 62.5% of the mothers of these children were already anemic when they got pregnant, and 59.2% suffered anemia in some trimester of their pregnancies. With respect to the school children group, the consumption of hem iron- and non-hem iron-carrying food was infrequent. To effectively face these deficiencies, it is necessary to fortify more those foodstuffs aimed at the above-mentioned age groups, to carry out nutritional education activities and to improve the patterns of iron-rich food intake

Keywords : anemia; prevalence; ferritin; food consumption; feeding habits.

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