Prevalence of iron deficiency in children aged 9-24 mo from a large urban area of Argentina
1990
Calvo, E.B. | Gnazzo, N.
Argentina has been largely considered as having an adequate diet in terms of iron availability. However, children aged 9-24 mo do not meet requirements from their regular diet. The aim of this study was to assess the incidence of iron deficiency in a representative sample of children living in Greater Buenos Aires. Hematologic indicators were measured in venous blood from 384 children. Weighted incidence of anemia was 46.7%. Mean corpuscular volume was < 73 fL in 28.2% of subjects, free erythrocyte protoporphyrin was > 1.77 micromole/L erythrocytes in 57.1%, and serum ferritin was < 12 microgram/L in 60.2% incidence of two or three abnormal values for iron status indicators was 46.1%. This extremely high incidence of anemia is associated with low iron intakes (5.6 +/- 3.5 mg/d, average +/- SD), early introduction of cow milk, and low consumption of iron-fortified foods and iron supplements.
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