Hospital-Based Prevalence of Iron Deficiency Anemia among Pre-School Children in Dubai.

Wafaa Faysal,Abdul Rehman Z Zaidi,Saad Alhumaid,Abbas Al Mutair,Sameer Al-Abdi,Maied Z Alshehery

doi:10.7759/cureus.10894

Abstract

Introduction: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is an internationally recognized leading cause of disability and contributes to childhood morbidity and mortality. The prevalence of IDA is higher in developing countries, especially in Arab countries, compared to the west.Methods: To assess the prevalence of IDA, we analyzed the data of children aged between one to five years seen at Dr. Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Group’s tertiary care hospital in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 2016 to 2018.Results: We found a high occurrence of IDA in male children and non-Emirati children.Conclusion: Appropriate screening and iron supplementation are required to see a decline in the rate of IDA. Further nationwide studies are required to identify the highly prevalent and high-risk areas of IDA in the UAE.

Highlights

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is an internationally recognized leading cause of disability and contributes to childhood morbidity and mortality
15% were male and 12% were female. 22% of our total sample were Emirati children, 53% of them were classified into group 1 and 12% were categorized into group 2
A total of 39% of the children were taking IDA supplements. 46% of the total children were less than two years old. 48% of the total sample belonged to group 1 and 19% fell under group 2

Summary

Introduction

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is an internationally recognized leading cause of disability and contributes to childhood morbidity and mortality. The most common type of anemia is iron deficiency anemia (IDA) which affects more than 25% of the world’s population [2]. IDA is the third leading cause of disability worldwide and contributes to childhood morbidity and mortality. Growing children (from 0-15 years of age) may consume iron stores that accrue during gestation, which can physiologically lead to an absolute deficiency in ferritin, making them one of the highest risk prone population of contracting IDA [6]. Severe IDA can increase the risk of premature delivery, low birth weight, mortality during labor, higher rates of infections, and cardiac failure [9,10]

Methods

Results

Conclusion