Immunization coverage and predictive factors for complete and age-appropriate vaccination among preschoolers in Athens, Greece: a cross--sectional study.

Background: In Greece, several new childhood vaccines were introduced recently but were reimbursed gradually and at different time points. The aim of this study was to assess immunization coverage and identify factors influencing complete and age-appropriate vaccination among children attending public nurseries in the municipal district of Athens.

Methods: A cross-sectional study, using stratified sampling was performed.

Age, beta thalassaemia trait, and iron-deficient anaemia significantly affect reticulocyte indices in pre-school children.

Background: Reticulocyte indices are easy to obtain, low cost parameters and have gained interest in the field of diagnosing anaemias of childhood.

Methods: We assessed distribution, age and gender variation, relation to indices of iron metabolism and diagnostic performance of reticulocyte haemoglobin content (CHr), percentage of microcytic reticulocytes (micro_r), percentage of hypochromic reticulocytes (hypo_r), and percentage of reticulocytes with low CHr (low_CHr) in 386 pre-school children classified in four groups: healthy, iron deficiency (ID), iron deficiency anaemia (IDA), and beta-thalassaemia carriers (beta-thal).

Results: Age had a positive effect in CHr (Spearman's rho = 0.

Serum transferrin receptors: Distribution and diagnostic performance in pre-school children.

Soluble transferrin receptors have gained interest in the field of diagnosing anemias. Reference ranges differ according to the method used for the quantification of sTfR. We aim to explore the distributional properties and diagnostic performance of sTfR in pre-school healthy children as well as in children with beta-thalassemia carriers, iron deficiency with normal hematological phenotype (ID) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA).