Abstract:
This study was carried out on eleven hundred children to evaluate the extent to which anaemia is present in the school children of Lahore. They belonged to various government and private schools, and came from varying socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. They were aged between 6 years and 11 years. 627 (57%) of them were boys, while the remaining 473 (43%) were girls. 116 (10.5%) of the students had anaemia as analyzed from their haemoglobin levels, which were below 11g /dl. 65 (10.36%) of these were boys and the remaining 51 (10.78%) were girls. On red blood cell morphology of the blood films, the commonest morphology of anaemia was microcytic (62.9%) and hypochromic (50%). This was followed by normocytic and normochromic (29.3%) morphology. Macrocytosis (10.3%) anisocytosis (15.5%), poikilocytosis (9.4%) and target cells (6%) were also noted. The study shows that anaemia, which is associated with many adverse effects, is fairly common in the school children of Lahore. This important public health issue needs to be addressed on a war footing with sound strategies aimed at its eradication.
Page(s):
14-17
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Pakistan Postgraduate Medical Journal, Volume: 14, Issue: 1, Year: 2003