[Comparison of 2 methods for evaluating the prevalence of anemia in young children]

Prevalence of anemia was estimated by two methods in 1235 healthy children 10 months old undergoing a free-of-charge medical checkup in a Parisian Child Health Examination Center. According to the classical method, the frequency of anemia, defined as the percentage of children with hemoglobin concentration below the WHO cut-off point (11 g/dl), amounts to 16.8% of 797 French children, 24.0% of 289 North African children and 43.6% of 149 sub-saharan children. The second method defines the frequency of anemia as the percentage of children whose hemoglobin values are shifted downwards relative to a gaussian hemoglobin distribution in non-anemic children. According to this method, anemia was present in 0.8%, 5.4% and 12.6% of children, respectively. The conventional cut-off point probably tends to overestimate the true frequency of anemia in this age group.