Clinical and laboratory profile of children with thalassemia in a non-endemic region

Аннотация

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is the most common form of anemia encountered by pediatricians in outpatient practice [1,3]. Microcytosis of red blood cells is a typical but not pathognomonic finding in IDA; differential diagnosis of IDA with the second most common microcytic anemia – thalassemia – is difficult, especially for asymptomatic forms in heterozygous carriers [2,4,5]. In this regard, the study of clinical and laboratory criteria for the differential diagnosis of these diseases is relevant.