Abstract
Anemia is common during adolescence. However, severe anemia is uncommon and can have varied etiology. This study was conducted to find out the profile of adolescents (10–18 years) admitted for severe anemia. The Case records of children between 10 and 18 years old admitted during the year 2008 in Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital for severe anemia as admitting diagnosis were reviewed. There were 40 patients admitted with severe anemia during the year 2008. This constituted 3.37% of all the admissions. Mean age of these patients was 12 (+/−2.5) years and mean hemoglobin at admission was 3.6 (+/−1.4) g%. Megaloblastic anemia was most common type of anemia (42.5%) followed by aplastic anemia (27.5%) and 15% cases were due to severe iron deficiency anemia. Although iron deficiency anemia is the most common type of anemia, but in adolescents megaloblastic anemia and aplastic anemia should be looked for whenever the adolescents present with severe anemia.
References
Jain S, Narayan S, Chandra J, Sharma S, Jain S, Malhan P. Evaluation of serum transferrin receptor and sTfR ferritin indices in diagnosing and differentiating iron deficiency anemia from anemia of chronic disease. Indian J Pediatr. 2010;77:179–83.
Udipi SA, Ghughre P, Antony U. Nutrition in pregnancy and lactation. J Indian Med Assn. 2000;96:548–57.
Roy S, Ray S. Prevention of malnutrition. J Ind Med Assn. 2000;98:510–1.
Mehta BC. Iron deficiency among nursing students. Indian J Med Sci. 2004;58:389–90.
Kapur D, Agarwal KN, Agarwal DK. Nutritional anemia and its control. Indian J Pediatr. 2002;69:607–16.
Pathak P, Singh P, Kapil U, Raghuvanshi RS. Prevalence of iron, vitamin A, and iodine deficiencies amongst adolescent pregnant mothers. Indian J Pediatr. 2003;70:299–301.
Chanarin I, Malkowska V, O’Hea AM, Rinsler MG, Price AB. Megaloblastic anemia in a vegetarian Hindu community. Lancet. 1985;23(2):1168–72.
Shahabuddin AK, Talukder K, Talukder MK, et al. Adolescent nutrition in a rural community in Bangladesh. Indian J Pediatr. 2000;67:93–8.
Contributions
S P and H K P; reviewed the literature and drafted the manuscript VS. J C and A D; critically reviewed the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Role of Funding Source
None.
Conflict of Interest
None.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Patra, S., Pemde, H.K., Singh, V. et al. Profile of Adolescents with Severe Anemia Admitted in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Northern India. Indian J Pediatr 78, 863–865 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-010-0336-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12098-010-0336-2