Iron Deficiency Anemia in School Age Children in District Karak Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan

The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in school-going children. Both Iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia have considerable adverse effect on human health. Among the different negative health concerns, including stunt development, less developed immunity, lower IQ level, no proper physical work capacity, more fatigue, maternal mortality rates, young ones born with low birth weight, birth complications and infant mortality rates are some of the remarkable health concerns posed by iron deficiency level. Our study sample was consisting of 420 school age children of both genders. The blood samples were collected in EDTA (Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) tubes from different school and health maternity centres by trained and veteran persons. Questionnaires were utilised for the data collection, at the time of blood samples collection. Hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrite (Hct), Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Mean Corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), white blood cell and red blood cell (RBC) were determine by automatic hematological analyzer model Symex Ks-21 having two reagents, cell pack and Stromatolyser-wwt 500 ml. The total percentage of anemia recorded in school age children was 34.0%. In tehsil Banda Daud Shah, the incidence of anemia was high up to 43.6% while in tehsil Takhti Nasrati and Karak was 32.1% and 26.4% respectively. The percentage was higher in girls (38.9%) than in boys (31.0%). The anemia percentage was recorded high (55.8%) in lower socioeconomic family children, than middle class (32.2%) and upper class (17%). The percentage of anemic children was also high (40%) in age group of 10 - 12 years. Pale skin was the most common symptom of anemia.