Anaemia Folate Zinc and Copper Deficiencies Amon

Authors: Ishraga I Abdelrahim Hyder M Mahgoub Ayoub A Mohamed Naji I Ali Mustafa I Elbashir I Adam

Publish Date: 2009/05/09

Volume: 132, Issue: 1-3, Pages: 60-66

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Abstract

Anaemia is a widespread problem especially in the tropics Among adolescent girls it has negative consequences on growth school performance morbidity and reproductive performance A crosssectional study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of anaemia iron folate zinc and copper deficiencies amongst adolescent schoolgirls in New Halfa eastern Sudan and to examine the relationship of these micronutrients with haemoglobin Hb levels Out of 187 adolescent schoolgirls 181 968 had anaemia Hb  12 g/dl 21 had mild anaemia Hb 110–119 g/dl 6681 had moderate anaemia Hb 80–109 g/dl and 121 had severe anaemia Hb  8 g/dl respectively Iron deficiency Sferritin  12 μg/l iron deficiency anaemia 12 m/dl and S ferritin  12 μg/l and folate deficiency Sfolate  3 ng/ml were prevalent in 176 165 and 69 of these girls respectively Nine percent and 59 of these girls had zinc 75 μg/ml and copper deficiency 75 μg/ml respectively Twentysix 14 girls had ≥2 micronutrient deficiencies Sferritin and zinc were significantly lower in patients with severe anaemia Haemoglobin levels were significantly positively correlated with zinc levels r = 0161 P = 003 and with copper levels r = 0151 P = 003 Thus interventions are required to prevent and control anaemia in this setting Further research is neededWe are very grateful to the girls who participated in the study and the local heath authority in New Halfa Kassala State Sudan We thank Mr Abdalla Hafazalla Saif Siddeeg and Faith Osman for their excellent technical assistance I Adam was supported by New Halfa and Sinnar Sugar factories Sudan

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