Prevalence and etiology of hypochromic-microcytic anemia in children admitted at Qods Hospital in Qazvin

¯Abstract Background : Anemia is one of the problems of public health. The most common form of anemia is hypochrom-microcyte. The most age group at high risk are children. Objective : The evaluation of prevalence and etiology of hypochromic-microcytic anemia in children admitted at Qods Hospital in Qazvin. Methods: This descriptive and prospective study was statistically analyzed. The primitive information was acquired by measuring hemoglobin and mean corpuscular volume(MCV). Complementary information was obtained by measuring serum level of ferritin, iron and transferrin. Peripheral blood smear and Hb electrophoresis, were done on all blood samples. Finally data were analysed by spss software. Findings: From 2150 admitted children, 17.4% had anemia and from these patients 77% had hypochrom-microcyte anemia. They were 182 males, 110 females and 75% under two years of age. 79 patients had anemia caused by chronic inflammatory infection, 45 ones by iron deficiency, 42 patients with thalasemia, 10 patients caused by iron deficiency plus thalasemia and 115 patients with unknown etiology. Conclusion: The most common form of anemia in children was hypochromic- microcytic anemia. Etiologies consecutively were chronic inflammatory-infectious diseases, iron deficiency and thalasemia.