TITLE:
Iron Deficiency Anemia in School Age Children in District Karak Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan
AUTHORS:
Irfan Ullah, Muhammad Zahid, Aftab Alam Sthanadar, Iram Alam Sthanadar, Pir Asmat Ali, Mudassirshah, Muhammad Ismail Khan, Muhammad Kaleem, Muhammad Aslam, Khayyam, Atiq-Ur-Rehman, Wasif Ullah
KEYWORDS:
Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA), Red Blood Cells (RBC), Hemoglobin (Hb), Hematocrit (Hct), Ethylenediamine Tetraacetic Acid (EDTA)
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Blood Diseases,
Vol.4 No.2,
June
24,
2014
ABSTRACT:
The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of iron deficiency
anemia (IDA) in school-going children. Both Iron deficiency and iron
deficiency anemia have considerable adverse effect on human health. Among the
different negative health concerns, including stunt development, less developed
immunity, lower IQ level, no proper physical work capacity, more fatigue,
maternal mortality rates, young ones born with low birth weight, birth
complications and infant mortality rates are some of the remarkable health
concerns posed by iron deficiency level. Our study sample was consisting of
420 school age children of both genders. The blood samples were collected in
EDTA (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) tubes from different school and health
maternity centres by trained and veteran persons. Questionnaires were utilised
for the data collection, at the time of blood samples collection. Hemoglobin
(Hb), hematocrite (Hct), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Mean Corpuscular
hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), white blood cell and red blood cell (RBC) were
determine by automatic hematological analyzer model Symex Ks-21 having two
reagents, cell pack and Stromatolyser-wwt 500 ml. The total percentage of
anemia recorded in school age children was 34.0%. In tehsil Banda Daud Shah, the incidence of anemia was high up to 43.6% while
in tehsil Takhti Nasrati and Karak was 32.1% and 26.4% respectively. The
percentage was higher in girls (38.9%) than in boys (31.0%). The anemia
percentage was recorded high (55.8%) in lower socioeconomic family children,
than middle class (32.2%) and upper class (17%). The percentage of anemic
children was also high (40%) in age group of 10 - 12 years. Pale skin was the most
common symptom of anemia.