IRON DEFICIENCY ANAEMIA IN MODERATE TO SEVERELY ANAEMIC PATIENTS

Authors

  • Muhammad Idris
  • Anis -ur- Rehman

Abstract

Background: Anaemia is defined as a clinical abnormality characterized by reduction inhaemoglobin concentration below the normal for age, sex, physiological condition and altitudefrom the sea level of a person. It can be of different types, the commonest being iron deficiencyanaemia which affects mostly pregnant and lactating females and growing children in thedeveloping world. The present study was conducted at Ayub Teaching Hospital on this problem ofglobal importance. Methods: One hundred consecutive anaemic patients were selected from AyubTeaching Hospital. After detailed history and examination, preliminary blood tests including fullblood counts, platelets count, retics count, absolute blood values and blood film examination (alltests done by visual method) were done in the laboratories of Ayub Teaching Hospital and AyubMedical College, Abbottabad. A clinical diagnosis was made based upon the findings of history,examination and blood tests. In patients suspected to have iron deficiency anaemia, serum ironstudies (i.e. serum iron, Total iron binding capacity (TIBC) and serum ferritin) were done toconfirm the diagnosis. Results: Sixty eight patients were found to have iron deficiency anaemia.Females were affected more than the males. Female to male ratio being 1:5:1. Majority of thepatients (82.2%) were aged 21-60 years. However, there were two peaks (21% & 25%) in agegroups 21-30 and 41-50 respectively. Based upon serum ferritin concentrations, most of thepatients were found to suffer from moderate iron deficiency anaemia (53%).Conclusion: Irondeficiency anaemia is the commonest type of anaemia in our area. It is more common in females.It is more common in age group 21-60 years, with two peaks, one in 21-30 years and the other in41-50 years.Key Words: Anemia, Iron deficiency, Ferritin

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