La anemia ferropenica en la población de América Latina y el Caribe

Abstract

Iron deficiency anemias have long been identified as a major public health problem in parts of Latin America and the Caribbean, especially in population groups with high physiological iron requirements

Reports from countries in this region show general hemoglobin averages ranging from 11 to 16 g per 100 ml. A better analysis of the situation is obtained, however, when one considers the percentage of individuals classified as "low" or "deficient." In different countries the proportion of total population having less than 12 g of hemoglobin varies from 1.7 to 42.8 per cent of males and 3.6 to 49.1 per cent for females. The general average of MCHC was around 32 per cent, but the proportion of individuals in the general population who had less than 30 per cent MCHC varied from 1.5 to 18.0 per cent. Serum iron levels in general were low

In some areas more than 30 per cent of the children under one year of age have a hemoglobin level of 10 g per 100 ml, and 50 per cent of the school children in some regions do not have a concentration even as high as this. Pregnant and lactating women are another group in which anemia constitutes an important public health problem in these areas. In Venezuela, for instance, 57.9 per cent of the pregnant women have less than 12g per 100 ml, whereas in the total female group only 18.9 per cent are below this level. Similar situations are found in other areas

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