Pediatric Anemia; A Guide to Cause, Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment
Anemia in children can be caused by a variety of factors including genetics, vitamin deficiencies and iron deficiency. The most common factor being iron deficiency with three percent of males suffering compared to 20 percent of females. Genetic anemia may be attributed to the painful and often fatal, sickle cell anemia, commonly seen among children of Arabic and African American descent. To understand the implications of anemia, let’s first examine how the body processes oxygen.
Within the body, the hemoglobin, found in the red blood cells, provide the body with oxygen. To do this, the body must be rich in iron as it is within the bone marrow where iron facilitates the production of the red blood cells. When in an anemic state, blood laboratory tests will reveal the body contains too few red blood cells or the body may be destroying the cells at a rate greater than production. Cause and origin of an amemia condition must then be addressed to determine appropriate treatment options.
Symptoms of anemia are varied and may include weakness, pale skin, frequent headache pain, dizziness, low body temperature and chest pain. In some cases, cognitive deficit or slowness may be present. Unfortunately, in small children, these anemica symptoms may be difficult to describe by the child especially in those who have not begun speech development.
To diagnose pediatric anemia, your pediatrician will conduct a variety of laboratory tests. However, it is important to note that if your child was ill within a two week period prior to the testing, the laboratory results may be inaccurate. The two test combination most commonly seen includes hemoglobin and hematocrit levels. Blood can be taken by venipuncture (through the arm) or by capillary puncture (through the heal).
Once diagnosed with pediatric anemia, the pediatrician may recommend a variety of treatment options. The first line of defense being increased dietary nutritional value including limitation of cow’s milk, supplementing breast feeding with an iron based formula, initiating ferrous sulfate drops, avoiding juice intake and increasing the intake of iron fortified cereal. All of which are affordable options with life impacting significance.
Without treatment, an anemic child will exhibit signs of developmental delay. Studies have shown anemic children test lower on intelligence tests, suffer from fear, anguish, fatigue and tend to exhibit symptoms of separation anxiety more often than children who do not suffer from anemia. A child exhibiting these anemic – like symptoms may not be anemic. However, if the symptoms persist beyond age three, a battery of testing should be completed, including intelligence testing, to ensure development has not been delayed and, if delayed, is not attributed to an anemic disorder.
As a parent, the primary concern is the health and welfare of our children. Maintaining awareness of your child’s health, both physically and mentally, will ensure significant results in growth and development. When faced with a child who may be suffering from symptoms of fatigue, chest pain, headaches, intelligence delay and/or paleness of skin color, consider consulting your pediatrician for information, testing and treatment into an anemic disorder.
