Characterization of pediatric patients with iron-deficiency anemia

Background: iron-deficiency anemia is the most widespread nutritional deficiency in the world.Objective: to characterize pediatric patients with a diagnosis of iron-deficiency anemia attended to at the Department of Hematology of the "Mártires de Las Tunas" Pediatric Hospital, from January 1 to December 31, 2016.Methods: a cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out with children diagnosed with iron-deficiency anemia attended to at the place and during the period herein mentioned. The sample consisted of 107 patients who presented microcytic anemia and serum iron values lower than 11 micromole/l; patients with thalassemia and anemia secondary to chronic processes were excluded. Data from the laboratory records were used and processed using descriptive statistics.Results: pre-school patients prevailed with 55 cases for 51,4 % followed by children younger than 1 year with 31 patients for 29 %. Concerning gender, there was a prevalence of the female sex in 56,1 %. Patients with serum iron between 7-8,9 micromole/ml prevailed in 57 % of the studied sample.Conclusions: the studied patients of this research were characterized.