IRON STATUS OF AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN

A national survey covering all States and Territories was conducted in urban and rural schools to determine the iron status of Austalian children and adolescents. This article reports the results of blood analyses for 1696 schoolchildren aged 9, 12 and 15 years. The measures of iron status analysed were plasma levels of iron, transferrin and ferritin. Results for all of these measures were available for 1204 of the schoolchildren for whom iron status was assessed based on the plasma ferritin and transferrin saturation model. Iron status was generally satisfactory in the 9, 12 and 15 year old boys and the 9 and 12 year old girls. There was a marked and statistically significantly higher prevalence of iron deficiency among the 15 year old girls. These results are discussed in relation to the food and nutrient intakes of 12 and 15 year old children who also participated in the 1985 National Dietary Survey of Schoolchildren.