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Assessment of the iron status of school children aged 7-12 years in selected schools in Ogun State
Abstract
Background: Iron deficiency as a public health problem is based on the seriousness of its consequences on human health and there may be need for certain measures to curb the menace of such deficiency.
Objectives: This study assessed the iron status of rural and urban school age children in selected Local Government Areas in Ogun State.
Methods: A structured pre-tested questionnaire was used to obtain information on the socio economic characteristics and blood samples of the selected children were analysed for biochemical parameters (heamoglobin (Hb), White blood cells and differentials, Serum ferittin (SF), C-reactive protein (CRP), and Reticulocyte count) using standard procedures. Data were analysed using frequency counts, percentages, means, standard deviation, correlation, and Ttest with SPSS software.
Result: Results showed that 36.3% of the respondents’ families earned less than two hundred thousand naira annually. Also 40.1% (rural) and 59.4.0% (urban) of the mothers had secondary and tertiary education, respectively. The study further revealed that the prevalence of iron deficiency was 23.7%, anaemia was 16.3% while 13.1% of the anaemic children were due to iron deficiency with significant sector (p=0.003) and gender (p-0.032) differences. The range of Neutrophills, Lymphocytes, Monocytes, Basophils and Eosinophils were 3.31 to 3.88, 3.03 to 4.38, 0.53 to 0.59, 0.03 to 0.04, 0.33 to 0.38, respectively while that of heamoglobin, CRP and reticulocyte range from 11.73 to 12.14 (p=0.000), 3.92 to 3.32(p=0.002) and 0.83 to 0.89 respectively. Correlation revealed a significant relationship between annual income and hemoglobin (r= 0.132), mothers education and PCV (r=0.180), mothers age and serum ferritin (r=0.159), also childs age and heamoglobin(r=0.144).
Conclusion: The study concluded that a significant relationship exist between socio economic status and the markers of iron status in the children. Hence, the study recommended a policy to improve school feeding programmes coupled with better access to basic social services including education and health care.
