Hospital-Based Prevalence of Iron Deficiency Anemia among Pre-School Children in Dubai

Wafaa Faysal; Abdul Rehman Z Zaidi; Sameer Al-Abdi; Saad Alhumaid; Maied Z AlShehery; Abbas Al Mutair

doi:10.7759/cureus.10894

Hospital-Based Prevalence of Iron Deficiency Anemia among Pre-School Children in Dubai

Cureus. 2020 Oct 11;12(10):e10894. doi: 10.7759/cureus.10894.

Authors

Wafaa Faysal¹, Abdul Rehman Z Zaidi^{2

3}, Sameer Al-Abdi⁴, Saad Alhumaid⁵, Maied Z AlShehery⁶, Abbas Al Mutair^{2

7}

Affiliations

¹ Pediatrics, Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Group, Dubai, ARE.
² Internal Medicine, Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Group, Riyadh, SAU.
³ Internal Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh, SAU.
⁴ Pediatrics, King Abdulaziz Hospital, Ministry of the National Guard-Health Affairs, Al-Ahsa, SAU.
⁵ Infectious Disease, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, SAU.
⁶ Palliative Care, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, SAU.
⁷ Internal Medicine, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, AUS.

Abstract

Introduction: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is an internationally recognized leading cause of disability and contributes to childhood morbidity and mortality. The prevalence of IDA is higher in developing countries, especially in Arab countries, compared to the west.

Methods: To assess the prevalence of IDA, we analyzed the data of children aged between one to five years seen at Dr. Sulaiman Al-Habib Medical Group's tertiary care hospital in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 2016 to 2018.

Results: We found a high occurrence of IDA in male children and non-Emirati children.

Conclusion: Appropriate screening and iron supplementation are required to see a decline in the rate of IDA. Further nationwide studies are required to identify the highly prevalent and high-risk areas of IDA in the UAE.

Keywords: anaemia; anemia; children; dubai; ida; iron deficiency; iron deficiency anemia; pediatrics; prevalence; united arab emirates.