Publication:

Status of anemia among the tribal children in West Bengal

Background Anemia is a major public health problem worldwide. School children are more vulnerable to this disease due to their rapid growth need of high iron. Therefore, it is a critical health concern because it affects growth and physical performance. This study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of anemia among different areas and sub-caste of tribal school children in West Bengal.

Methods Complete hemogram was performed on Sysmex (KX-21) automated cell counter. Haemoglobin analysis was done by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC, from Bio Rad Variant II). Ferritin estimation was done by ELISA based method. A software (Thaltribe) was prepared to record and maintain the data of the screened population.

Results Total number of school students from all the districts of West Bengal included in this study was 45887. Among the total population 49.88% were found to carry low Hb and 28.45% had low ferritin. Among the population who had normal ferritin (N=32832), there were 46.59% (N=15298) carrying low Hb. Among total 15298 cases who had low Hb with normal ferritin level, 10741 (70.21%) remained undiagnosed who were not detected to be thalassaemia carrier or thalassaemia disease (HPLC normal) and also did not carry alpha globin gene mutation.

Conclusions On the contrary to the common belief that iron is the main source of anemia, it was observed in this study that around 25% of anemic children did not have iron deficiency. This group requires further evaluation to investigate the reason of anemia.