a study on the occurrence of iron deficiency anemia in 1-6 year old children referring to health care centers in jahrom, 1385

introduction: children’s iron deficiency anemia is the most common nutritional problem; it plays an important role in reducing the child’s scientific and practical abilities. this study aims at reviewing the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia in 1 to 6 year old children referring to the city health care centers in jahrom. material and methods: this is a descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study using the multistage sampling method, conducted on 380 children aged 1-6 years in jahrom city. a checklist was used to collect demographic data, information on malnutrition, exposure to disease, hemoglobin, iron free and serum iron band in order to determine the frequency and prevalence of the problem.                                                                                            .          results: of the 380 children studied, 212 (55.8%) were male and the rest were girls. the mean age of the children was 33.7 months. 94 % of them weighed 3200 g at birth. moreover, 46.3% of the children suffered from anemia and 18.7% were iron deficient.  the whole 18.2% had iron deficiency anemia. 60 % of the patients with iron deficiency anemia were aged one year and  21.7% were two years old and no iron deficiency anemia was seen in 6 years of age (p=0/00). although anemia was more common in girls than boys, no significant difference of iron deficiency anemia was found in both sexes (18.4 versus 17.9). 11.6% of the patients were under the 3rd percentile growth curve (p=0.031). conclusion: since 60% of the patients with iron deficiency anemia were aged one to two years, so there is a need to start and continue iron supplementation in this age group.