assessment of mean corpuscular volume as a surrogate marker for detecting early iron deficiency among school children

background: the aim of the present study was to assess the mean corpuscular volume (mcv) as a surrogate marker for detecting early iron deficiency prior to definitive investigation and treatment. materials and methods: this study was done on one hundred students in swada preparatory school – sharkia governorate from 2010 to 2011. they were subdivided into three groups: group (a): comprised of 31 anemic children. group (b): comprised of 19 microcytic children. group (c): comprised the control group of 50 apparently healthy children with normal cbc. all subjects were subjected to: full history taking, thorough clinical examination and iron studies including: serum iron , total iron binding capacity, serum ferritin and transferrin saturation. results: there was a significant difference among studied subjects in height, presence of anorexia and pallor. moreover, there was a significant difference among studied subjects in hb, rbcs count, mch, rdw (p < 0.001) and wbcs count (p= 0.004). we noticed a significant positive correlation between mcv (fl) and serum iron (mg/dl) in anemic subjects. also there was a significant positive correlation between mcv (fl) and tibc (μg/dl) in anemic subjects as well as a significant positive correlation between mcv (fl) and serum ferritin (μg/dl). in microcytic subjects, we found a significant positive correlation between mcv (fl) and iron (mg/dl) and a significant positive correlation between mcv (fl) and ferritin (μg/dl). conclusion: every child with clinical manifestations of anemia proved by cbc who have microcytosis and low mcv should undergo iron studies ( serum iron, serum ferritin, total iron binding capacity and transferrin saturation ). keywords: iron deficiency , anemia, children.