The prevalence of iron deficiency anemia in children with severe early childhood caries undergoing dental surgery under general anesthesia

Abstract Purpose Severe early childhood caries (SECC) is known to affect young children worldwide. However, there is little information about the effects of SECC on Iron deficiency anemia (IDA). The aim of this study was to investigate the IDA in children with severe caries undergoing dental surgery under general anesthesia. Methods A total of 160 children were evaluated; age ranged from two to six years and mean age was 4.8 ± 1.1 years. Before performing general anesthesia, blood samples were assessed regarding hemoglobin (Hgb), hematocrit (Hct), mean corpuscular volume (MCV) as biochemical indicators of IDA. Results The mean deft score was 10.1 ± 4.1. The children in this study were defined to have SECC. All of the anemia-related measurements were in the standard ranges, except for MCV values. There were no statistically significant differences between serum Hgb (p = 0.205) and Hct levels (p = 0.386), but statistically significant differences were found among serum MCV levels (p = 0.018) in children with severe caries. Pearson Correlation analysis among SECC and Hgb (p = 0.54),Hct (p = 0.88) and MCV (p = 0.39) revealed that there were no significant differences. Conclusions There was no association between SECC and serum Hgb, Hct and MCV levels, but low levels of MCV might be an indicator of microcytic anemia which is most commonly caused by iron deficiency. In the present study, we concluded that SECC might be a risk marker for iron deficiency.