AbstractIntroduction: Anaemia in children is a major health problem worldwide and specially in developing countries like India. Anaemia is associated with visual and auditory dysfunction, cognitive and behavioral abnormalities and delay in psychomotor development. Anaemia is not a diagnosis, but may be a sign of an underlying pathology.
Objectives: To study the morphological pattern of anaemia and its distribution among different age groups and gender in pediatric population.
Material and Methods: A hospital based prospective cross sectional study was under taken at a tertiary health care centre. 500 anaemic cases were included for the study as per WHO criteria and age group ranging from 0-15 years. Evaluation by complete blood count and peripheral smear was done.
Results: Out of 500 anaemic children, the proportion of anaemia in males and females was 64% and 36% respectively. Males outnumbered females in the study. 0-5 year’s age group children were maximally affected. Moderate degree of anaemia was seen in maximum cases. Microcytic hypochromic anaemia was the commonest type of morphological pattern followed by normocytic hypochromic and normocytic normochromic pattern.
Conclusion: Study of morphological pattern of anaemia is essential to direct the further management of underlying etiology.
Keywords: Anaemia; Microcytic; Hypochromic; Children.