Background: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is the most frequent type of anemia in young children worldwide. In IDA, platelet behavior is often unpredictable and complicated. It may lead to reactive thrombocytosis and rarely thrombocytopenia.
Objective: To assess the association between iron deficiency anemia and platelet alterations.
Methods: This case-control study included 130 children under 18 years old diagnosed with IDA at Al-Hussein University Hospital's pediatric outpatient clinics during the period from August 2021 to August 2022. Moreover, 70 apparently healthy age and sex-matched children were selected as a control group. All patients and controls were subjected to meticulous history taking, thoroughly full clinical assessment, and Laboratory investigations, including complete blood count (CBC) with a peripheral blood smear as well as Serum iron, total iron‑binding capacity (TIBC), and Ferritin.
Results: Most platelet indices were significantly lower in children with IDA, except platelet count and plateletcrit (PCT) were statistically significantly higher than in the control group. In particular, mean platelet volume (MPV) had the greatest area under curve (AUC was 0.828), indicating a better predictive capacity, sensitivity, and specificity in discriminating the children with IDA, followed by platelets large cell count (PLCC), platelet large cell ratio (PLCR), and Platelet distribution width (PDW). After adjusting for confounding variables, Multivariate regression analysis showed that MPV at
Conclusions: Reactive thrombocytosis is the most common platelet abnormality associated with IDA. MPV can be considered as a marker helping diagnose IDA and follow-up. So, physicians should pay attention to thinking about IDA as a diagnosis.