Prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia in congenital heart disease in children

Abstract

Background: Congenital heart disease (CHD), out of all congenital anomalies, is the leading condition of mortality and morbidity in children under 5 years of age. Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) has been clearly shown to be an important risk factor that increases morbidity and mortality in such patients. The present study is thus conducted to find out the prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia in children less than 15 years with congenital heart disease at a tertiary care centre and compare them with cases without CHD. Methods: Prospective study over a period of 2 years, included 60 cases of children below 15 years of age with echocardiographicaly confirmed CHD, investigated by serum ferritin to diagnosed IDA using cut off 12ng/ml. These cases compared with similar age controls. Results: 51cases (82%) were of acyanotic heart disease and 18% were of cyanotic heart disease. Iron deficiency or storage depletion was seen in 90% cases as compared to 75% controls. Iron deficiency anaemia was seen in 55% cases as compared to 30% controls, the difference was statistically significant. Conclusions: Present study observed higher prevalence of IDA among cases with CHD as compared to general population of children. The prevalence was found to be more in cases with cyanotic heart disease as compared to cases with acyanotic heart disease. We thus conclude that routine screening for iron deficiency should be done for these children and those found to be deficient should be treated.