FACTORS AFFECTING SERUM FERRITIN LEVEL IN SCHOOL GOING CHILDREN OF DISTRICT BANNU

Objective: To investigate the factors affecting serum ferritin level in school going healthy children in Distt Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and to know the potential risk in children associated with hypoferritinemia, leading to microcytic hypochromic anemia in our population. Methodology: This cross sectional study was carried out at Institute of Kidney Diseases (IKD) Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar in one year time from March 2010- March 2011. A total of 113 healthy children of both genders were selected with no history of bleeding, blood transfusion, any extensive surgery or infections. 05cc blood sample was taken from each child. Out of which, 03cc were used for ferritin estimation by using the Roche Elecsys 2010 Immunoassay Analyzer, while 02cc were used for basic hematological examination, using Sysmex k-1000. Results: There was no significant relationship between serum ferritin of boys and girls (p>0.05).However boys had high ferritin level as compared to girls. While comparing serum ferritin in rural and urban areas it has been observed that serum ferritin was high in rural areas. Moreover serum ferritin was positively correlated with hygienic conditions (p=0.01) and dietary intake (p=0.00). Conclusion: The finding of our study reveals that serum ferritin level is quite low in female population in both urban and rural areas, hence anemia and low iron status are more prevalent in female population. Environmental conditions, socioeconomic factors and diet habits are the main factors, which affect ferritin level in children.

[1]  R. Uslu,et al.  Iron deficiency in preschool children with autistic spectrum disorders , 2010 .

[2]  J. Brian,et al.  Children with autism: effect of iron supplementation on sleep and ferritin. , 2007, Pediatric neurology.

[3]  K. Dewey,et al.  Anemia, iron deficiency, and iron deficiency anemia in 12-36-mo-old children from low-income families. , 2005, The American journal of clinical nutrition.

[4]  Abdus Sattar Khan,et al.  Iron deficient children and significance of serum ferritin. , 2005, JPMA. The Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association.

[5]  V. Chongsuvivatwong,et al.  Once-weekly and 5-days a week iron supplementation differentially affect cognitive function but not school performance in Thai children. , 2004, The Journal of nutrition.

[6]  Regina F. Frey,et al.  Blood-Chemistry Tutorials: Teaching Biological Applications of General Chemistry Material , 2001 .

[7]  A. Djazayery,et al.  Iron status and socioeconomic determinants of the quantity and quality of dietary iron in a group of rural Iranian women. , 2001, Eastern Mediterranean health journal = La revue de sante de la Mediterranee orientale = al-Majallah al-sihhiyah li-sharq al-mutawassit.

[8]  V. Tillmann,et al.  Reference and cut-off values for serum ferritin, mean cell volume, and hemoglobin to diagnose iron deficiency in infants aged 9 to 12 months. , 2007, Medicina.

[9]  M. Borgaonkar.  Hemochromatosis. More common than you think. , 2003, Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien.