INCREASED SERUM COPPER AND DECREASED SERUM ZINC LEVELS IN CHILDREN WITH IRON-DEFICIENCY ANEMIA

In order to evaluate serum copper and zinc status in children with iro n deficiency anemia (IDA), 60 children with IDA aged 1-14 yr and 64 he althy children as controls aged 1-14 yr were included the study. Serum copper levels were higher in children with TDA (189 +/- 49 mu g/dL) t han those of controls (163 +/- 37 mu g/dL) (p = 0.001). Serum zinc lev els were lower in the patient group (109 +/- 59 mu g/dL) than those of control subjects (135 +/- 56 mu g/dL) (p = 0.017). Ln addition, there were statistically significant negative correlations between hematolo gical parameters and serum copper levels in the patient group, but not in controls. No correlation between hematological parameters and seru m-zinc levels were found in both patient and control groups, except po sitive correlation between mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and serum zin c level in patients. It was concluded that at the time of managing chi ldren with IDA, zinc deficiency must be borne in mind and if necessary treatment should be initiated with zinc.