Evaluation of oxidative stress and antioxidative defense systems in Infants and Young Children with Iron-Deficiency Anemia of Sharkia Governorate, Egypt

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide affecting people of all ages in both developed and developing countries. Evidences from epidemiological and clinical studies suggest a possible correlation between oxidant/antioxidant levels and the anemic disease risk. The present work is to investigate oxidative stress and antioxidative defense systems in anemic patients. A number of 86 patients (45 males and 41 females) and  73 healthy (42 males and 31females) infants and young children, aged 0 months to 6 years, were selected for the study from Maternal and Child Care Centers, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt. Based on analysis, we found that the mean hemoglobin (Hgb) level and  mean corpuscular volume (MCV) of normal infants were 13.95±1.12 g/dL and 84.43±4.11fL which significantly decreased by the rates of -42.80% (p<0.01) and -23.30% (p<0.05) in IDA patients, respectively. The opposite direction was observed for the red blood cell distribution width (RDW) which recorded 12.60±1.55% in normal infants and significantly (p<0.01) increased by the rate of 35.24% in IDA patients. The oxidative stress parameters (malonaldialdehyde, MDA and nitric oxide, NO₂) of patients with IDA was significantly higher than controls (P≤0.05) while enzymatic (glutathione peroxidase,GSH-P; superoxide dismutase, SOD and catalase, CAT) activities and nonenzymatic antioxidants levels (glutathione, GSH and vitamins A, C and E) were significantly lower (P≤0.05). Statistically analysis indicated positive correlations between Hb and all enzymatic as well as nonenzymatic antioxidants of IDA patients.  The opposite directions were recorded for Hb and oxidative stress parameters (MDA and NO₂). In conclusion, the results of our study support the higher oxidative stress hypothesis in IDA. Iron-rich foods in conjunction with antioxidant vitamins supplementation therapy should be advised by health care providers to all infants from 6 months to 6 years.