Harshit Thakur¹, Archita Kansal Tiwari², Akash Kumar¹*, Pankaj Kishor Mishra¹ and Umesh Kumar¹

¹Department of Paramedical Sciences, Subharti Medical College, Swami Vivekananda Subharti University, Meerut, India
²Department of Pathology, Subharti Medical College, Swami Vivekananda Subharti University, Meerut, India

*Corresponding Author: Harshit Thakur, Department of Paramedical Sciences, Subharti Medical College, Swami Vivekananda Subharti University, Meerut, India.

Received: December 20, 2023; Published: January 22, 2024

Abstract

Anemia is a global public health issue that affects roughly one-third of the world's population. Anemia causes both short-term and long-term devastating complications in infants and children. Despite the fact that anaemia is a major public health concern, newborns, particularly in developing countries, are frequently overlooked and undiagnosed. It is a condition where the amount of red blood cells or the amount of haemoglobin they contain is below normal. There will be a reduced ability of the blood to transfer oxygen to the body's tissues if you have insufficient or atypical red blood cells, insufficient haemoglobin, or both. Nutritional deficiencies, particularly iron deficiency, are the most frequent causes of anaemia, though deficiencies in folate, vitamins B12, and A are also significant contributors.
The important public health issue of anaemia disproportionately affects young children. According to WHO statistics, anaemia affects 40% of pregnant women and 42% of children under the age of five worldwide. Iron deficiency is common among infants and young children, particularly in developing countries.
Despite iron repletion, animal models show that iron deficiency during the brain growth spurt alters metabolism and neurotransmission, myelination, and gene and protein profiles. In humans, there is compelling evidence that 6- 24-month-old infants with iron deficiency anaemia have poorer short and long term cognitive, motor, social-emotional, and neurophysiologic development.
In contrast to the inconsistent developmental effects of iron therapy for iron deficient infants, recent large, randomized trials of iron supplementation in developing countries consistently show iron benefits, particularly on motor development and social emotional behaviour. These findings suggest that iron can be used to prevent and or reverse negative effects earlier in development or before iron deficiency occurs.

Keywords: Anemia; Red Blood Cells; Hemoglobin

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Citation

Citation: Harshit Thakur., et al. “Impact of Anemia in Development of Infants: A Review".Acta Scientific Microbiology 7.2 (2024): 79-85.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2024 Harshit Thakur., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.