STUDY OF IRON DEFICIENCY IN INFANTS BY MEASURING SERUM FERRETIN LEVELS

Abstract

Introduction: In human body for many metabolic processes to take place as a mineral iron is necessary element.  It is a part of haemoglobin which is important and essential for the delivery of oxygen to the cells of body. Worldwide especially in developing countries Nutritional anaemia is problem with the highest prevalence. When the hemoglobin and/or hematocrit are two standard deviations below the mean for that particular age and sex then a child is said to be anemic. This national problem of iron deficiency (ID) without anemia is worldwide concern which lead to long term neurodevelopment and behavior disorders that may be irreversible. Anaemia is consider as serious condition because it impair in behavioral and motor development, impairments in cognitive performance, coordination, language development, and scholastic achievement as well as increased morbidity from infectious diseases. This is most endangered in age group of 6- 24 months of age.

Aim: The main objective of this study is to prevalence of iron deficiency in infants by measuring serum ferretin levels.

Material and Method: Total 70 patients with various age groups from 1 month to 24 months of age group attending to Pediatrics department of this college were included for study. For each patient various physical examinations were carried out to rule out other causes of anaemia like hemolytic anaemia, anaemia of chronic disease etc. laboratory investigations like CBC, Hb indices and peripheral smear carried out. In all the patients Serum ferritin levels were estimated.

Result: Prevalence of anaemia (Hb<11gm/dl) in 1- 12 months age group was 82.3%, in 13- 18 months age group was 79.5% and in case of 19-24 months age group was 85.4%. Overall, 82.7% of infants were found to be anemic.  Amont the total anaemic patients 45 infants (64.3%) among 70 infants had mild anaemia, 19 infants (27.1%) had moderate anaemia, 6 infants (8.6%) had severe anaemia. 48 (68.6%) out of 70 patients had low serum ferritin levels and only 21(30%) had normal levels. Out of 70 patients 48 had low serum ferritin levels. However though not all infants having low MCV had iron deficiency but all iron deficient infants have low MCV value. 2 of 70 infants had serum ferritin level >400ng/ml.

Conclusion: In this study there is significantly Association between iron deficiency and low MCV. This study emphasis need for iron supplementation aim all healthy infants as early as 6 months.  More and more studies on a larger population of children should be carried out to determine the role of other factors is needed.

Keywords: Infants, iron deficiency, serum ferretin, Haemoglobin level, MCV