Brainstem Auditory Evoked Potential Changes in Iron Deficient Anaemic Children

Iron deficiency anaemia adversely affects different aspects of the nervous system such as myelinogenesis, neurotransmitters synthesis, brain myelin composition, and brain fatty acid and eicosanoid metabolism. This study was carried out to see the effect of Iron deficiency anaemia on brainstem auditory evoked potentials in children of age group 5–14 yrs because anaemia is a common problem in this age group too. Children were taken from Pediatrics OPD of Pt. B.D. Sharma PGIMS, Rohtak. They were divided into two groups first, controls (n=30) and anaemics (n=50). Anaemics were further divided in mild, moderate and severe anaemics. Only proven cases of anaemia were taken having Hb<12gm/dl. BAEP was recorded by using RMS EMG EPMK2 machine. Results showed that there was a statistically significant increase in absolute peak latencies of different waves but the Interpeak latencies and amplitudes were not significantly different between the two groups. To conclude we can say that, there should be an increased awareness in the medical fraternity and the population in general, of deleterious effects of iron deficiency, some of which are subtle and subclinical and will likely to have a long term effect.