Hart et al. Detection of iron deficiency in children with Down syndrome. Genetics in Medicine, 2019
The International Down Syndrome Patient Database is a consortium of Down syndrome specialty clinics around the globe that have been collecting prospective longitudinal data on our patients to answer many clinical questions for our population This is the fourth publication to come from this group in recent years. Each participating center can propose a topic of study, and the first authorship rotates to the group taking the lead. Here is the summary from this recent paper:
- Together, we collected data on 856 patients with Down syndrome within one year.
- Iron deficiency precedes iron anemia, but we hypothesized that the current guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics would under-detect many of these cases.
- Indeed, our group found that a better combination of blood tests could detect iron deficiency and anemia.
- As a result, treatment with diet and iron supplements can be started sooner, as iron is known to be important for cognitive development, among other health conditions.
For those interested in more details, you can read the full paper at https://rdcu.be/bOWJG