title: [Usefulness of certain hematologic parameters in the diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia in children and women].
abstract: The sensitivity and nonspecificity of parameters for the detection of iron deficiency: mean corpuscular volume (MCV); mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH); serum iron (SI); total iron binding capacity (TIBC); transferrin saturation (TS); free erythrocyte protoporphyrin (Epp) and serum ferritin (SF) were studied in 78 children from 0.2-3.9 years old and in 165 mothers. In children, MCH and TS were the parameters that showed the highest sensitivity and lowest nonspecificity: 97% of the anemic and non-anemic children were identified as iron deficient by MCH less than 25 pg and/or TS less than 17.5% and 0 and 6% of the children without iron deficiency showed MCH and TS below these values. MCH, SF and TS in the group of mothers were the tests with the highest sensitivity (97%, 88% and 79% respectively), and the nonspecificity of these parameters were 2.2%, 30% and 0.7% respectively. MCH seems to be a sensible and specific screening test for detecting possible cases of iron deficiency in both maternal and infant populations. The best tests to establish the deficiency appear to be TS of Epp tests in children, and TS plus SF in mothers.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000747:Anemia, Hypochromic / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004909:Erythrocyte Indices; D004911:Erythrocyte Volume; D005260:Female; D005293:Ferritins / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism; D011524:Protoporphyrins / Q000097:blood; D012737:Sex Factors; D014168:Transferrin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011524:Protoporphyrins; D014168:Transferrin; D005293:Ferritins; D007501:Iron
vernacular_title: Utilidad de algunos parámetros hematológicos en el diagnóstico de anemia por deficiencia de hierro en niños y mujeres.