Iron status and inflammatory processes in anaemic children

Iron status, haemoglobinopathies, malarial infection, and inflammatory processes were evaluated in 249 anaemic Beninese children. Plasmodium falciparum trophozoites were found in 96 per cent of cases. Biological evidence of an inflammatory process was present in 155 children whose mean serum ferritin concentration was higher than the serum ferritin of children without inflammation. Eighty per cent of children with high serum ferritin values (more than 80 μg/1) presented biological evidence of an inflammatory process. Iron deficiency, defined as an abnormality in at least two of the three independent indicators of iron status (transferrin saturation, erythrocyte protoporphyrin, serum ferritin), was found in 119 children. The proportion of iron-deficient children was the same whether or not an inflammatory process was present. Serum ferritin concentration was the iron parameter most affected by the existence of inflammation. © Oxford University Press.