Prevalence and associated factors of iron deficiency in Spanish children aged 1 to 11 years

Iron deficiency (ID) is the most common nutritional deficiency affecting children worldwide. Most traditional laboratory parameters to assess ID can be altered by infections or other inflammatory states, including obesity. The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of ID in healthy children and to analyse associated factors, avoiding potential confounding factors through the use of serum transferrin receptor (sTfR), reticulocyte haemoglobin content and sTfR/log ferritin index. A cross-sectional population-based study was conducted on 951 children aged 1 to 11 years in Almería (Spain). ID was detected in 7.7% of children and iron deficiency anaemia in 0.9%. Multivariate analysis identified the following as independent risk factors: age under 5 years (OR: 2.2, 95% CI: 1.35–3.6); excessive consumption of cow’s milk and dairy products (OR: 1.87, 95% CI: 1.13–3.1); and insufficient consumption of vegetables (OR: 2.7, 95% CI: 1.2–6.1).