Affiliations: Child Health Department, National Research Centre,
Dokki, Cairo, Egypt | Therapeutic Chemistry Department, National Research
Centre, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt
Note: [] Corresponding author: Manal Abdel Aziz Hamed, Therapeutic
Chemistry Department, National Research Center, El-Tahrir St., Dokki, Cairo,
Egypt. Tel.: +202 1001298522; Fax: +202 33371931; E-mail: manal_hamed@yahoo.com
Abstract: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is a wide spread syndrome among
children especially in the developing countries due to malnutrition, infection
or inflammation. The aim of our study was to determine the concentrations of
serum trace elements as copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), and
selenium (Se) in IDA Egyptian school children. The work was extended to
estimate the concentration of heavy metals; lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) as well
as the concentrations of vitamin A and D. This cross sectional study was
performed on 120 children (age 6–12 years). Iron deficiency anemia was observed
in 90 individuals (32 male and 58 female). Thirty healthy children (without
anemia) were classified as control. There were lower concentrations (p <
0.001) in circulating Fe, Mg, Se and vitamins A and D in subjects with IDA as
compared to the control group, while Cu concentrations were higher (p <
0.001). The concentrations of lead and cadmium were significantly (p <
0.0001) higher in IDA patients than controls. Hemoglobin (Hb), mean corpuscular
volume (MCV), red blood cell (RBC) and ferritin concentrations in subjects with
IDA were significantly lower than control. Significant degrees of correlations
between these hematological indices and the selected elements were observed as
well as between these elements with each other. According to the anthropometric
measurements, the children with IDA were underweight and undergo a stage of
stunting and wasting. In conclusion, 82% of the IDA children suffered from at
least two elements deficiencies. Zinc, Fe, Mg, Se and vitamins A and D were
lower while Pb and Cd were higher in school children with IDA as compared with
controls. Iron deficiency was associated with high lead concentration, while Cu
was not associated with iron deficiency concentration.
Keywords: Iron deficiency anemia, children, trace elements, heavy metals, vitamins
