Evaluation of Nutritional Status in Students of Primary Schools in Kosti City Using Blood Parameters and Iron Profile

Abstract

This descriptive and cross-sectional study had been done over four months to evaluate the nutritional status in primary schools students in Kosti City , through detection of hemoglobin (Hb) level, red blood cell (RBCs) count, packed cell volume (PCV) , iron profile , and type of daily diet. Three hundred students of primary schools were included. Two hundred and four were males, and remaining were females with varying age between 6 to 14 years. Each student, who accepted to participate in the study, received three sheets. The first sheet, a consent was a declaration form for each participant that he/she understood the study well, the second, a blood collection form, included information about the procedure of study tests. Student was physically and mentally well, the third sheet was a questionnaire from that included demographic data of the participants. A blood aliquot (2-5 ml) was collected from each student into ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid (EDTA) container to estimate Hb, RBCs count, PCV, using Sysmex (automated blood analyzer). Another 2.5 ml of blood was collected from the same student into plain container; the serum was separated by centrifugation, and analyzed for serum iron and serum firritin using Biosystem A 25. The results were analyzed using Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) software program. The results showed that the means of Hb, RBCs count, and PCV were 12.2 g/dl (�2 SD), 4.7 million c/cumm, 37.2%, respectively, and the means of serum iron, and serum ferrtin were 44.6 g/l, 50.5 g/l, respectively. Study also proved that about 85% of students used faba beans as main dish in their food.