DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2015.v03i05.062

Pages: 2106-2110

To find out the etiology of nutritional anemia in Indian children admitted to a tertiary hospital. The study Design is Observational cross sectional study Setting is Tertiary-level hospital from October 2010 – September 2011 for a period of one year. And the Participants means all patients aged between 6 months to 13 years, admitted in paediatric ward of this hospital for any complaints were evaluated for anaemia. All patients with Hemoglobin levels less than the WHO cut off levels for anaemia were included in the study. Those who were sick and those who were on drugs, other conditions causing bone marrow suppression were excluded from the study. Serum iron, iron binding capacity, ferritin, vitamin B12, and folic acid analyses were conducted with auto analyzers using commercial kits. The results in this study a total of 975 were examined and 98 children were found to be anaemic and they were taken up for the study. Nutritional anaemia was seen in 63 children, out of which only iron deficiency was seen in 43(68.25%) children, only folic acid deficiency in 7(11.11%) and only vitamin B12 deficiency in 2 (3.1%) children. In conclusion Iron deficiency continues to be the main cause of nutritional anemia in children, despite a policy being in place and a program that has been initiated for a long time to eradicate it.