Iron deficiency in Australian-born children of Arabic background in central Sydney.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of iron depletion and deficiency, and iron-deficiency anaemia, along with risk factors for iron depletion, in Australian-born children aged 12-36 months of Arabic-speaking background.

Design: Community-based survey.

Setting: Central Sydney Area Health Service (CSAHS), NSW, April to August, 1997.

Participants: All children born at five Sydney hospitals between 1 May 1994 and 30 April 1996, whose mothers gave an Arabic-speaking country of birth and resided in the area served by the CSAHS.

Main Outcome Measures: Full blood count (haemoglobin, mean corpuscular haemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume), plasma ferritin concentration, haemoglobin electrophoresis, potential risk factors for iron depletion.

Results: Families of 641 of the 1,161 eligible children were able to be contacted, and 403 agreed to testing (response rate, 62.9% among those contacted). Overall, 6% of children had iron-deficiency anaemia, another 9% were iron deficient without anaemia, and 23% were iron depleted. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed three significant independent risk factors for iron depletion: <37 weeks' gestation (odds ratio [OR], 5.88, P=0.001); mother resident in Australia for less than the median time of 8.5 years (OR, 1.96, P=0.016); and daily intake of >600 mL cows' milk (OR, 3.89, P=<0.001).

Conclusion: Impaired iron status is common among children of Arabic background, and targeted screening is recommended for this group.