Correlation between serum ferritin, erythrocyte and hemoglobin indices in infants living at 3400 m altitude

Villamonte-Calanche W.; Orccosupa-Quispe D.; Mendoza-Cabrera F.; Flores-Gonzales E.; Cari-Avalos L.; Breibat-Timpo R. · Andes Pediatrica (2023) · DOI: 10.32641/andespediatr.v94i6.4486

Resumen

Anemia (An) is a public health problem in South America, with iron deficiency (ID) as the main cause. In high-altitude cities, hypobaric hypoxia causes an increase in hemoglobin (Hb) levels in resi-dents. For the diagnosis of An, Hb is measured, which is modified after erythrocyte indices (EI) mea-surements. There is evidence that there is an overestimation of the prevalence of An at high altitudes. Objective: To correlate serum ferritin (SF) with Hb and EI, and to determine the Hb cut-off point for predicting ID in 6-month-old infants at 3400 m of altitude. Subjects and Method: 128 infants aged 6 months at 3400 m altitude were evaluated. The SF was considered an independent variable. IE and Hb were the dependent variables. The An in the infant was defined with an Hb < 13.4 g/dl. The DH was defined by FS <12 ug/dL. Data were processed in SPSS® version 25. Spearman correlation was used for bivariate analysis. The ROC curve was constructed to determine the Hb cut-off point for ID. Results: The highest correlation of SF was observed with mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), rho = 0.449 (p < 0.001), and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) rho= 0.423 (p < 0.001). The Hb cut-off point according to SF, defining ID was 12.15 g/dL (ROC curve: 0.704; 95% CI: 0.597-0.811; p < 0.001). Conclusion: MCV and MCH showed a better correlation with SF. The cubic and loga-rithmic models were the ones that best represented these relationships, respectively. Hb < 12.15 g/dL allows diagnosing ID in 6-month-old infants at 3400 m altitude.

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco; Universidad Andina del Cusco