TO DETERMINE THE IRON PROFILE AND CLINICAL PATTERNS OF ANEMIA AMONG MEDICAL COLLEGE STUDENTS

Objective: Anemia is defined as reduced hemoglobin, hematocrit (Hct) or red blood cell counts (RBC) below baseline levels. Iron deficiency (ID) is most common type of nutritional anemia prevalent Worldwide. Previous estimates show 2.15 billion people are suffering from Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and commonly affected are the children and women particularly in the developing countries. To determine the iron profile and clinical patterns of anemia in young medical college students,

Study Design: This was an observational study

Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Department of Pathology, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences Islamabad, from January 2020 to September 2020.

Materials and Methods: A sample of 167 medical students was selected by non – probability convenient sampling. Volunteers were asked for blood sampling. 5 ml blood was drawn in disposable syringe. 2 ml was taken in EDTA tubes for the hematological indices and 3 ml was centrifuged to get sera for the estimation of serum iron, ferritin, TIBC and TSAT. Data was analyzed on SPSS 21.0 (USA) at 95% CI (P≤ 0.05).

Results: Of 167 students; 99 (59.2%) were male and 68 (40.7%) were female. Age of male was 21.43±1.83 and female was 21.71±2.17 years (P=0.39). Normal and low serum Iron levels were noted in 60 (66.6%) vs. 31 (45.5%) and 39 (39.3%) vs. 37 (54.5%) of male and female respectively. Normocytic, microcytic and macrocytic anemia were noted in 63 (63.6%), 25 (25.2%) and 11 (11.1%) of male compared to 29 (42.64%), 31 (45.5%) and 8 (11.7%) of female respectively.

Conclusion: The present study reports high frequency of low iron profile and anemia in young medical students.

Key Words: Anemia, Iron, Ferritin, Hematological indices.