Anemia Screening and Treatment Outcomes of Children in a Low-resource Community in the Dominican Republic.
J Trop Pediatr
; 62(2): 116-22, 2016 Apr.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26637824
ABSTRACT
Iron is often initiated for children with low hemoglobin values in the absence of other indicators of iron deficiency in low-resource settings. Unfortunately, there are few reports describing outcomes from such an approach outside of clinical trials. This study examined outcomes of an anemia screening and treatment service in a low-resource community in the Dominican Republic. Complete blood counts (CBC) and receipt of iron supplementation were extracted from health records of young children participating in a well-baby clinic in the targeted community. Of the 265 children screened, 68.7% had hemoglobin values <11.0 g/dl; 61.5% of these anemic children had follow-up CBCs. While 72.3% of those with follow-up CBCs picked-up some iron supplements, only 21.4% had a follow-up hemoglobin ≥11.0 g/dl. Amount of iron given was not related to change in hemoglobin at follow-up. More follow-up monitoring of quality and impact of community care is required with associated evidence-informed benchmark targets.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Poverty
/
Quality of Health Care
/
Hemoglobins
/
Mass Screening
/
Iron, Dietary
/
Anemia
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
/
Screening_studies
Limits:
Child
/
Child, preschool
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Caribe ingles
/
Dominica
/
Republica dominicana
Language:
En
Journal:
J Trop Pediatr
Year:
2016
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Canada