The Relationship Between Iron Deficiency Anemia and Reflux-Related Renal Injury in Infant and Children

Anemia may be defined either quantitatively or physiologically. The diagnosis of anemia is determined by comparison of the patient''s hemoglobin level with age-specific and sex-specific normal values. The easiest quantitative definition of anemia is any hemoglobin or hematocrit value that is 2 standard deviations (SDs) (95% confidence limits) below the mean for age and gender. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between anemia and reflux nephropathy in patients with vesicoureteral reflux. This case-control study involved 260 children aged from 6 months to 2 years. They were divided into two groups of 130 children: the case group suffering from VUR with reflux nephropathy and the control group affected with VUR without reflux nephropathy. Results of our study showed that the prevalence of anemia in the Reflux Nephropathy group was not considerably different than that of the control group. We concluded that there isn’t a direct correlation between anemia and reflux nephropathy in patients with vesicoureteral reflux.