Objective: In this case-control epidemiological study, we aimed to investigate the effects of intestinal parasites on the anemia of children and show the association between intestinal parasites and anemia.
Methods: A total of 50 healthy and 50 malnourished children aged 0-72 months who went to physicians of Tilfindir Primary Health Care Center were enrolled in this study. The stool specimens were examined by using native-lugol, concentration, cellophane tape, and acid fast and trichrome staining methods. The complete blood count was measured by an automatic blood device.
Results: A total of 58% of the children were infected with intestinal parasites; 55.2% of these were infected with only one parasite, and 44.8% of them were infected with polyparasites. Also, 50.0% of the children with parasitic infection and 19.0% of children without parasitic infection were anemic. There was a positive association between intestinal parasites and anemia statistically (p<0.05). The mean hemoglobin level of the children with parasitic infection was 11.15±1.30, and the mean hemoglobin level of the children without parasitic infection was 12.13±1.47. There was a significant difference between mean hemoglobin levels of the two groups statistically (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Consequently, this study emphasized that intestinal parasites can affect the anemia of children adversely, and there was a positive association between intestinal parasites and anemia of children.