Studying the prevalence of anemia among primary school children in selected areas in Egypt

Abstract

Introduction Our goal was to screen elementary school students in six selected areas in Egypt for the presence of anemia and identify its type. Patients and methods Two thousand seven hundred thirty-two elementary school students of both sexes, with a male-to-female ratio of 1: 1.02, had their blood samples taken. They were 6–13 years old. All participants had complete blood count screening for anemia, and mean corpuscular volume was used to classify its type. Results 27.4% had anemia, of which 66.2% had normocytic, 33.7% had microcytic, and 0.1% had macrocytic anemia. Females were more affected but insignificantly. Anemia was significantly more prevalent among older children. Out of the six regions studied, only Damanhor had the highest prevalence of anemic children. Conclusions Anemia was present in 27.4% of elementary school students in Egypt, representing a moderate public health problem. Sex differences were negligible. Normocytic anemia was the most common type found, which was against the expected worldwide prevalence. It is interesting to note that Damanhor primary school students had an exceptionally high rate of anemia, prompting us to search further for the cause and the possible risk factors.