Hematological profile of children with celiac disease at diagnosis

Abstract

Background:Anemia is a common manifestation of CD, sometimes being the only presenting feature.Hence we decide to study the occurrence of anemia and detailed hematological profile of children with celiac disease at the time of initial diagnosis. Methods:The Cross Sectional Observational Study was conducted in Children between the age group of 2-16 years with newly diagnosed celiac disease. Age and sex matched controls were enrolled. Sampleswere analysedfor hemoglobin levels, platelet count, RBC indices,Iron profile, Serum Folic acid and Vitamin B12 levels. Results: The cases had significantly lower mean levels of hemoglobin (8.71 ± 2.51 g/dl) as compared to the controls (11.4 ± 1.59 g/dl) with a p value of <0.001. RBC indices like MCV, MCH, MCHC were also significantly lower (p value <0.001) suggestive of hypochromia and microcytosis among the cases. The cases had significantly lower levels of serum iron (39.00 ± 27.45 μg/dl) and transferrin saturation (11.19 ± 7.21%) as compared to controls (67.11 ± 69.02 μg/dl and 27.55 ± 13.34% respectively) with a p value <0.001.Vitamin B12 and Folic acid levels were low in cases though not statistically significant (p value 0.114 and 0.051 respectively).Conclusion: A significant proportion of celiac patients have anemia and majority of them being associated with iron deficiency, serum iron levels and supportive homological monitoring should be done regularly in celiac patients starting right from the point of diagnosis.