Interaction between anemia and blood levels of iron, zinc, copper, cadmium and lead in children.
OBJECTIVE
Anemia is a widespread problem among infants and children in many parts of the world, and it is often associated with some trace elements (iron, zinc, copper) and heavy metals (cadmium and lead). Aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between anemia and these elements.


METHODS
This research was performed on 256 children (mean age 6.8 +/- 0.2) living in Denizli city center. We observed iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in 23 children, iron deficiency without anemia (ID) in 36 children and only anemia (ferritin level normal) (OA) in 18 children, and 179 children were found healthy and they were regarded as controls (C). Blood samples were taken from subjects and the concentrations of zinc, copper, iron, cadmium and lead in serum were measured with atomic absorption spectrophotometer.


RESULTS
The levels of copper, cadmium and lead in serum were significantly higher in children with IDA than those of controls (p<0.05, p<0.05, p<0.01, respectively). The other elements in the serum of ID were not different from controls.


CONCLUSIONS
High copper, cadmium and lead decreased iron absorption and negatively affected hematological parameters.
Turgut
Sebahat
S
Department of Physiology, Pamukkale University Faculty of Medicine, Denizli, Turkey. sturgut@pau.edu.tr
Polat
Aziz
A
Inan
Murat
M
Turgut
Gunfer
G
Emmungil
Gulten
G
Bican
Mevlut
M
Karakus
Tugrul Yasin
TY
Genc
Osman
O
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000740:Anemia / Q000097:blood*; D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000097:blood; D002104:Cadmium / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D003300:Copper / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007501:Iron / Q000097:blood; D007854:Lead / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000097:blood*; D015032:Zinc / Q000097:blood
D014131:Trace Elements; D002104:Cadmium; D007854:Lead; D003300:Copper; D007501:Iron; D015032:Zinc