Determinants and prevalence of Iron Deficiency Anemia in Baghdad among Children under five years- A cross sectional study of a large pediatric referral center

Abstract

Iron deficient anemia (IDA) is the most common nutritional condition among children worldwide and the implication of this condition cannot be underestimated in relation to cognitive development and body maturation. This was a cross-sectional study to establish the prevalence and risk factors of IDA in the five year old children who were attending Central Child Teaching Hospital in Baghdad. A systematic random sampling was used to enroll (320 children) marshmallow children. CBC, serum ferritin (divided by CRP), serum iron, TIBC and saturation of transferrin were done. Demographic data, feeding practices and socioeconomic aspect data were gathered through use of structured questionnaires. The findings showed that general prevalence rate of anemia was 48.1 according to the IDA prevalence is 88.3 of all anemia prevalence in it with 42.5 prevalence of the IDA prevalence (n=136). The exclusive bottle feeding (aOR=2.86, p= 0.001), late introduction of complementary foods (aOR=2.34, p=0.002), low maternal education (aOR=1.98, p=0.008) and low socioeconomic status (aOR=2.12, p=0.004) were found to be significant risk factors. The mean hemoglobin of children with IDA was found to be 9.8+-1.4 g /dl as compared to 12.2+-1.1 g /dl in children without IDA (p < 0.001). This conclusion means that a sense of urgency exists in massive nutrition intervention programmes which focus on early childhood nutrition and maternal education in Iraq.