PREVALENCE OF IRON DEFICIENCY ANEMIA AND HEMOGLOBINOPATHIES’ CARRIERS AMONG SCHOOL CHILDREN IN AL-KHOBAR & MAKKAH CITIES, SAUDI ARABIA

Hesham S. M. ElBaz, Mahmoud M. Zahran, Anas M. Elshreif, Mohamed O. Nour*

ABSTRACT

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is one of the most prevalent nutritional diseases in many parts of the world and the most common cause of anemia in KSA. Hemoglobin disorders as thalassaemia and sickle cell disease (SCD) have a big concern in many countries with high prevalence in KSA. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of IDA, sickle cell trait (SCT) and β-thalassaemia trait (βTT) among school children in Al-Khobar and Makkah cities, KSA. A multi stage random sample of 510 school children aged 12–18 years at both cities received health education about these disorders then investigated by complete blood count (CBC), serum iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC), reticulocytic count and sickling test. Hemoglobin electrophoresis and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) were done in selected cases. Overall, the prevalence of IDA, SCT and βTT was 12.94%, 3.33% and 3.14% respectively with no significant difference between both cities. Significant variations were seen in the hematological parameters in students with IDA and βTT compared to normal students in each city but no significant differences in the hematological parameters between normal students and those with SCT. No significant differences were observed between both sexes for any of the blood characteristics examined except for iron and TIBC. Many factors contribute to the high prevalence of IDA, SCT and βTT in KSA including demographic factors, traditional and religious commonality and the high rate of consanguineous marriages in conjunction with genetic role. Strengthening public health education, nutritional programs and routine carrier screening for school children are recommended to help early discovery of different types of anemias.

Keywords: Prevalence, Iron deficiency anemia, Sickle cell trait, ?-thalassaemia trait, School children.