Clinicohematological Study of Different Patterns of Anemia in Infancy and Childhood

Objectives: Pediatric anemia is one of the major health problems in India and in many parts of the world, as it results in reduced exercise tolerance, slower rate of growth, impaired development and cognition, and delayed wound healing. Anemic children are also at a higher risk of death due to complications associated with malnutrition and infection.

Aim: To evaluate the clinical features and the basic hematological parameters of anemia in infants and children, in the age group of 6 months to 14 years. To study the morphological patterns of different types of anemia on peripheral smear & correlate the corresponding clinical presentation.

Methodology: The study was conducted on 100 patients between the age group of 6 months to 14 years in the pediatric ward of Sree Balaji Medical College & Hospital, Chennai. The hematological analysis was made by using automated analyser (Sysmex KX-21 autoanalyser). The complete haemogram was done from Peripheral smears for each participant. The reticulocyte count was done by the supravital staining technique using Brilliant crystal blue. The experiments were done in triplicates and statistical analysed were performed by using Graphpad Prism (Ver.5).

Results: The present study showed that anemia was more prevalent among male children than female counterparts and pre- school children were severely affected. The commonest presenting condition was acute gastroenteritis followed by respiratory symptoms. The most common morphological type was microcytic hypochronic anemia and iron deficiency anemia was the most common etiological type.

Conclusion: Pediatric anemia is quiet common due to the fact that children are the most vulnerable population for anemia to occur. This compels prompt screening and diagnosis at an early stage through necessary investigations & utilization of available advanced technical modalities in order to initiate timely treatment and management.