Associated factors in pediatric patients admitted with severe iron-deficiency anemia in the last seven years - the experience of a single pediatric unit

Objectives: To study the causes of iron deficiency, laboratory findings and clinical manifestation of infants aged 6-12 months and children aged 1-3 years diagnosed with severe iron-deficiency anemia. Patients, Materials and Methods: We conducted an observational, retrospective single tertiary center study between January 2015 and April 2022, which included 142 children. The control group (patients with no diagnosis of severe iron-deficiency anemia) included 71 patients and the study group (patients diagnosed with severe iron-deficiency anemia) included also 71 patients. Clinical data were retrospectively collected from hospital medical records. Statistical analysis was conducted using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 25.0 software. Results: Seventy-one children had hemoglobin <7 g/dL and low values of ferritin/serum iron (22 infants aged 6-12 months and 49 children aged 1-3 years). In both the study and control groups, the male gender was slightly more prevalent. Mother's age at birth and living standard is significantly lower in the study group. We note a higher frequency of premature births (14.08%) in children identified with anemia compared to control group (8.45%). We found a statistically significant distribution of cow's milk consumption among the two groups (p<0.001). Pearson's correlation test revealed a significant positive correlation, indicating that anemia is directly proportional to cow's milk consumption. Conclusions: The most frequent cause of iron-deficiency anemia in infants and children 1-3 years old was the consumption of cow's milk following incorrect diversification and incomplete prophylaxis of iron-deficiency anemia.