Abstracto

Iron deficiency anemia as a risk factor of childhood asthma

Maghrib S AlKhateeb, Hassan M Khalil, Mezher M Kadhim, Jalil I Alezzi and Najdat Sh Mahmoud

Background: There are many risk factors for asthma occurrence like gender, atopy, and infection. Trace elements like Fe, Mg and Zn play a role in decreasing airway hyper-responsiveness. Objectives: To assess Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA) as a risk factor for childhood asthma and its possible effect on pulmonary functions. Patients and Methods: Across-sectional comparative study was carried out on 200 children, 6-14 years old who attended the outpatient pediatric clinics and emergency department of Albatool Teaching hospital in Diyala governorate from Oct. 2017 to Oct 2018, they were classified into: group I:100 children with IDA-who was subdivided into group Ia: Asthmatic children and group Ib: Non asthmatic children. Group II: 100 children without IDA, subdivided into group IIa: asthmatic children and group II b: non-asthmatic children. Results: Children with asthma in group Ia the male to female ratio was 1.75/1.0 and in group II b the ratio was 1.4/1.0. The anemic group with asthma constitutes 66% of group I, while in group II the asthmatic children constituted 24% of included children. Anemic asthmatic children had significant difference regarding Pulmonary Function Tests (PFT) (FEV1, FVC, FVC/FEV1) in comparison to non-anemic asthmatics. Conclusion: Asthma was more common in males, anemic asthmatics group constituted 66%, and anemia had significant detrimental effects on PFT in comparison to non-anemic asthmatics.