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Salivary iron status in children with iron deficiency and iron overload
O P Mishra1, K N Agarwal, R M Agarwal
1Department of Pediatrics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
Insights
Saliva iron levels are higher in children with iron deficiency anemia and correlate with serum iron. Salivary iron remains stable even with low protein levels in these children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Hematology
- Biochemistry
- Clinical Diagnostics
Background:
- Iron deficiency anemia is a prevalent global health issue in children.
- Salivary components can reflect systemic metabolic status.
- Understanding iron metabolism in anemia is crucial for diagnosis and management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate salivary iron levels in children with different types of anemia.
- To determine the relationship between salivary and serum iron concentrations.
- To assess the impact of hypoalbuminemia on salivary iron in anemic children.
Main Methods:
- Comparative analysis of salivary and serum iron in anemic (iron deficiency, thalassemia, aplastic) and non-anemic children.
- Correlation studies between salivary iron, serum iron, and protein levels.
- Age range: 8 months to 10 years.
Main Results:
- Significantly higher salivary iron in iron deficiency and iron overload conditions compared to controls.
- Mean salivary:serum iron ratio was elevated in iron deficient anemia.
- Significant positive correlation between salivary and serum iron (r=0.7392).
- Hypoalbuminemia reduced salivary protein but did not alter salivary iron levels in iron deficient anemic children.
Conclusions:
- Saliva is a potential non-invasive biomarker for assessing iron status, particularly in iron deficiency anemia.
- Salivary iron levels are maintained despite hypoalbuminemia in iron deficient anemic children.
- The salivary:serum iron ratio may offer diagnostic insights into different types of anemia.
Abstract:
Forty anaemic (iron deficiency anaemia-27, thalassemia major-8, and aplastic anaemia-5) and 10 non-anaemic children (serving as controls) aged from 8 months to 10 years were selected for the study. The salivary iron was significantly higher in iron deficient and iron overload conditions compared to controls. The mean salivary:serum iron ratio was same in control and iron overload cases, while it was twice as high in iron deficient anaemic children. The correlation between salivary iron and serum iron was significant (r = 0.7392, P less than 0.001) in these cases. The iron deficient anaemic children with hypoalbuminaemia had significantly reduced serum and salivary protein (P less than 0.001), but iron concentrations in serum and saliva remained unaltered. The salivary protein level had significant correlations with serum albumin and serum protein (P less than 0.001). Thus, the iron in saliva is maintained at a higher level and more so in iron deficiency anaemia; it correlates well with serum iron (r = 0.6853, P less than 0.001) in iron deficient anaemic children also and is not affected by co-existing hypoproteinaemic situation.