Child Health Care, Children's Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China.
World J Pediatr. 2009 Nov;5(4):275-81. doi: 10.1007/s12519-009-0052-z. Epub 2009 Nov 13.
Anemia is a widespread public health problem, which is due to many factors, nutritional or non-nutritional. Iron, vitamin A and growth status were assessed to investigate anemia of preschool children in suburb Chongqing, China.
A descriptive, cross-sectional survey was performed on 459 preschool children aged 2 to 7 years randomly chosen from the kindergartens in 6 suburban districts of Chongqing. Weight and height levels, hemoglobin, erythrocyte protoporphyrin, serum retinol, and ferritin concentrations were measured to evaluate the anthropometric and nutritional status.
The rates of stunt, underweight, overweight, wasting, obesity, anemia, iron deficiency, vitamin A deficiency (VAD), and marginal VAD were 6.3%, 3.9%, 3.7%, 1.5%, 3.1%, 23.5%, 15.0%, 6.3% and 25.9%, respectively. Serum retinol concentration was significantly lower in children with anemia than in those without anemia (P=0.003), and the retinol concentration was associated with hemoglobin (Pearson's correlation coefficient, r=0.22, P<0.01). Children with VAD had a significantly increased risk for anemia (odds ratio, 2.56; 95% confident interval, 1.15-5.70). In all 108 children with anemia, only 42 were related to VAD and 12 related to iron deficiency, suggesting that almost half of the anemia children cannot be explained solely by iron deficiency or VAD.
Vitamin A and iron deficiency are still public health problems in some localities of China. Public health interventions in anemia control should be used to eliminate deficiencies of vitamin A, iron, and other micronutrients by deliberate supplementation. Attention must be paid to such deficiencies in high-risk groups, especially in preschool children.
贫血是一个广泛存在的公共卫生问题，它由许多营养或非营养因素引起。本研究评估了重庆市郊区学龄前儿童的铁、维生素 A 和生长状况，以探讨其贫血的原因。
采用描述性、横断面研究方法，随机抽取重庆市 6 个郊区县的 459 名 2~7 岁学龄前儿童进行调查。测量其体重、身高、血红蛋白、红细胞原卟啉、血清视黄醇和铁蛋白浓度，以评估其营养和生长状况。
生长迟缓、消瘦、超重、消瘦、肥胖、贫血、缺铁、维生素 A 缺乏（VAD）和边缘 VAD 的发生率分别为 6.3%、3.9%、3.7%、1.5%、3.1%、23.5%、15.0%、6.3%和 25.9%。贫血儿童血清视黄醇浓度显著低于无贫血儿童（P=0.003），且视黄醇浓度与血红蛋白呈正相关（Pearson 相关系数 r=0.22，P<0.01）。有 VAD 的儿童贫血的风险显著增加（比值比 2.56；95%置信区间 1.15~5.70）。在所有 108 名贫血儿童中，仅有 42 名与 VAD 相关，12 名与缺铁相关，提示近一半的贫血儿童不能单纯用缺铁或 VAD 来解释。
维生素 A 和铁缺乏在中国一些地区仍然是公共卫生问题。在贫血控制的公共卫生干预措施中，应通过有针对性的补充来消除维生素 A、铁和其他微量营养素的缺乏。必须注意高危人群，尤其是学龄前儿童的这些缺乏。
