Screening of ferropenia in children aged less than 5 years

In addition to being essential for oxygen transport, iron is a structural component in many enzymes and is therefore indispensable for a broad range of metabolic processes, such as antimicrobial phagocytic activity, DNA synthesis or cellular respiration.

Iron plays a key role in neurodevelopment, as it is involved in the synthesis of neurotransmitters, dendrite arborization and myelinization. During the fetal stage and the early years of life, when brain development peaks, iron deficiency can have an impact on cognitive and motor function, learning and behavior, in some cases irreversible. In addition to a nutritional deficiency, ferropenia could be considered a neurologic risk factor.

Given the importance of this micronutrient, whose deficiency is asymptomatic in many cases and, if untreated, in addition to causing anemia can have a deleterious impact on child development in the short and medium terms, we propose a review of the current evidence on the screening of ferropenia in children under 5 years. We took the previous document of the PrevInfad group as the starting point and reviewed the literature published thereafter.