Impact of inflammation on anemia in children: a cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION

The association of inflammation and iron deficiency could be related to up to 40% of anemia in young children.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the anemia and iron deficiency in children and verify possible associations with dietary practices, nutritional status and inflammatory markers.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted with one hundred and twelve children aged between 6 months and 3 years in Early Childhood Education Centers in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Nutritional status regarding iron and inflammatory markers was assessed using the reference values proposed by the World Health Organization.

RESULTS

Anemia and iron deficiency were observed in 58 (51.8%) and 89 (79.5%), respectively, of children evaluated. Hemoglobin values were directly associated with the z-score of height for age after adjusting for high-sensitivity C-reactive protein values (β-adjusted = 0.375; 95% CI 0.088 to 0.662; p = 0.011). The values of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein correlated directly with RDW (r = 0.202; p = 0.033), ferritin (r = 0.425; p < 0.001) and soluble transferrin receptor (r = 0.446; p < 0.001), and inversely with hemoglobin (r = -0.287; p = 0.002), serum iron (r = -0.580; p < 0.001) and transferrin saturation index (r = -0.528; p < 0.001). The ROC curve shows that RDW (AUC = 0.708; CI 95% 0.612 to 0.803) and soluble transferrin receptor (AUC = 0.588; 95% CI 0.481 to 0.694) were the variables that showed the better level of discrimination of anemia.

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of anemia was higher than in national studies, and there was a correlation between inflammatory markers and biomarkers of iron nutritional status.