-
Objective: To determine the prevalence of anemia and nutritional anemia in primary school children in the city of Aydın. Materials and Methods: In Aydın, the central town of Aydın province, a total of 496 students (56% were female) were enrolled into the study by using stratified random sampling method. The students were from the primary schools located in socio-economically low, medium, and high areas of primary health care centers. The avarage age of the students was 10.2±2 years. Statistical analysis was performed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Student’s t-test, Mann-Whitney U-test and Chi-Square test. Results: The prevalence of anemia, iron-deficiency (ID), iron-deficiency anemia (IDA), vitamin B12 deficiency and vitamin B12 deficiency anemia was 15.7%, 38.7%, 8.3%, 9.1%, 0.8%, respectively. No folic acid deficiency was detected. Among the anemias, 42% of them were microcytic, 58% of them were normocytic and the 45.5% of the microcytic anemias were IDA. Among the females, the rate of ID was 45.1% and the rate of IDA was 11.6%, while in boys the same rates were 30.6% and 4.1%, respectively (p<0.05). Microcytosis was present in 36.5% of subjects with IDA. The Mentzer index was <13 in 13.3% of subjects with microcytic anemia and IDA, and in 77.7% of children with microcytic anemia and no IDA (p<0.001). Regarding socio-demographic characteristics of children; the only statistically significant difference was in the parameters of mother education and anemia. Conclusion: The prevalence of anemia represents a minor public health problem according to the World Health Organization criteria among the primary school students in the central town of Aydın province. Exploration of the reason of anemia among pre-school children, proper treatment of nutritional anemia cases with adequate duration and dose, dietary organizations and proper follow-up will lower the incidence of anemia and nutritional anemia among primary school children. Our study showed that thalassemia trait is defined as a major problem in the differential dignosis of IDA in our region. Diagnosing of these cases with thalassemia will prevent the unnecessary iron therapy and will provide a genetic counseling to the family.
Other ID | JA57YT58BJ |
---|---|
Journal Section | Research Article |
Authors | |
Publication Date | December 1, 2015 |
Published in Issue | Year 2015 Volume: 16 Issue: 3 |