Comparative Evaluation of Iron Deficiency among Obese and Non-obese Children

BACKGROUND: Obese children are at the risk of micronutrient deficiency especially iron deficiency. Given the importance of iron deficiency in this age group and considering the existing discrepancies, present study was performed with the aim of evaluating iron deficiency in obese children. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This study was conducted, in the form of a case-control study, on 100 children aged between 5 to 15 during June and November 2013 in Kashan. Cases consisted of 50 obese children and controls were 50 children who were not obese.Blood sample was drawn to check for serum iron, total iron binding capacity (TIBC) by biochemistry method and plasma ferritin by ELISA method. The obtained data were entered into SPSS software version 16 and statistically analyzed. P < 0.05 was identified as statistically significance. RESULTS: The mean values of serum iron were 52.38 and 64.50 microg/dL for the case and control groups (P<0.02). TIBC levels in obese and non-obese Children were 434.80 and 382.28 microg/dL (P<0.008). The ferritin level in the study group was 70.56 versus 68.06 ng/ml in the control group (P=0.79). In the obese children group, 8.3% (n=2) of children with iron deficiency had ferritin levels less than 15 while in control group 100% (n=14) of iron deficient children had ferritin levels below 15 (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: In our study, mean serum iron levels were lower among obese children in comparison with control group. However, ferritin concentrations were similar in both groups. It is supposed that due to inflammatory state caused by obesity, serum ferritin levels are naturally higher in obese people. It is suggested that higher levels of ferritin considered as normal reference values in obese people.