1Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatric, Santosh Hospital and Medical College, No 1, Ambedkar Road, Ghaziabad
2Post Graduate, Department of Pediatric, Santosh Hospital and Medical College, No 1, Ambedkar Road, Ghaziabad
3Professor, Department of Pediatric, Santosh Hospital and Medical College, No 1, Ambedkar Road, Ghaziabad
Online published on 15 February, 2017.
To assess the hematological profile in children with geophagia and study the response of oral iron on geophagia.
This longitudinal observational study was conducted in the department of pediatrics at Santosh hospital. Children between the ages of 2–7 years of either sex with history ofgeophagia for at least 1 month duration were enrolled. 185 children completed study. Detailed history, anthropometry, baseline hematological profile and serum iron levels were done. An intervention in the form of oral iron in the dose of 3 mg/kg/day was initiated for a period of 6 weeks. Children were reassessed for therapeutic response, considered as adequate if there was either no geophagia or decreased geophagic behavior.
185 children completed the study. Majority of the children (78.5%) were between 24–48 months of age. Most commonly ingested substance were cement and dirt. Anemia was present in 96% and low serum iron level was present in 84% of children. After 6 weeks of oral iron therapy 68.7% of children showed adequate improvement in geophagia. Only 3.2% children showed no response.
Geophagia in children has a strong association with anemia and has good response to oral iron therapy. Therefore it may be recommended to evaluate and treat it as separate entity rather than pica in general.
Pica, Geophagia, Anemia, Oral iron
