Evaluation of Serum Ferritin Levels in 6 to 12-year-old School Age Children of Tehran

Iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia which have been associated with multiple complications are among the most important public health problems in the world. Also, iron deficiency is the most important cause of nutritional anemia. The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of iron deficiency among school age children in the schools of Tehran. Patients & In a cross-sectional study, 1779 elementary students from 19 districts of Tehran Province were randomly selected and their blood samples were taken for ferritin measurement. After excluding 124 children, ferritin levels were compared among different age and sex groups in various areas of Tehran. Chi-square and Students’ t-test were used for data analysis. Iron deficiency, i.e. ferritin<12µg/l, was diagnosed in 4.6% of the students of whom 46.8% were girls and 53.2% were boys. The mean age of children with low ferritin was 9.10±1.54 years. Iron deficiency was more prevalent among boys than girls(5.7% vs 3.8%) but this difference was not significant(P=0.07). The prevalence of iron deficiency in the north, south, east and west areas of Tehran was 6.2%, 3.7%, 3.1% and 4.8% respectively. The most and least frequent sites of iron deficiency in Tehran were the north and west areas but the difference was not significant, however(P=0.1). According to the results, the prevalence of iron deficiency has decreased in our country in comparison to previous studies. This may be due to an increase in the knowledge of the community and to the nutritional and cultural developments.