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A study on "Iron deficiency and behaviour pattern in preschool children"
was taken forth to evaluate the possible role of iron deficiency on the behaviour
development of preschool children. Of the 50 preschool children surveyed, 25
children were normal and the remaining 25 were iron deficient. The socio-economic
pattern, health profile, dietary profile and behaviour profile were evaluated.
Of the families surveyed, majority were of nuclear type, comprising of about
3 to 5 members. The health profile evaluated indicated that in the normal group
most of the children were born to non-anaemic mothers while in the case of the
iron deficient group, a larger portion of the children were born to highly anaemic
mothers. Considering the birth weights of the normal group, majority had normal
birth weights, while in the iron deficient group the major cases were low birth
weight babies.
Considering the physical state, standard head and chest circumference
measures were observed for children of normal group while the iron deficient
children had lower values. Statistically this fact was reinforced since a significant
difference was observed for both the groups for both physical state and health
status. Dietary profile with reference to the food consumption pattern of iron
deficient children were inadequate when compared with normal children. Similar
inadequacies were observed in cases of food intake and nutrient intake. For the
iron deficient children most of the foods and nutrient were inadequate in terms of
Recommended Dietary Allowance especially their iron intake was low which could
be the reason for their deficiency.
The behavioural development of the children assessed revealed that in
comparison with the normal group, the children of iron deficient group performed
poorly in the intelligence tests. Also as the extent of deficiency increased their
concentration and attention span decreased resulting in poor performance.
However the variations observed could be due to other environmental or
socio-economic factors.
The respondents with low iron status as in case of iron deficient group,
reflected in their low haemoglobin, Mean Corpuscular Volume and serum iron levels
and higher Total Iron Binding Capacity values. In the present study, a positive
correlation was observed between intelligence test scores and haemoglobin, serum
iron and Mean Corpuscular Volume, while with Total Iron Binding Capacity there
was a negative correlation for both the groups. The significance was higher for the
iron deficient group which establishes the fact that the variation in the blood
parameters and intelligence test scores were more prominent when the extent of
the deficiency increased. As the intensity of deficiency increases, more will be the
chances for irreversible impairment. Here arises the necessity for iron therapy . |
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