Inflammatory Hematimetric Ratios: An Association With Weight Excess and Iron Deficiency in Infants and Preschool Children in a Daycare in Brazil

Objective: To verify the association between inflammatory hematimetric ratios with iron deficiency, weight excess and inflammation in infants and preschool children in a public daycare in Santo André-SP, Brazil.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at a daycare with infants and preschool children between 10 and 73 months of age. For data collection, researchers used a questionnaire with the parents, laboratory tests (blood count, CRP, serum iron and serum ferritin) and physical exam to establish the presence of iron deficiency and nutritional status.Results: Half of the children with iron deficiency had weight excess (50%), and this group showed higher values of inflammatory hematimetric ratios when compared to children without iron deficiency. MLR (p=0.008), PLR (p<0.001) and NLR (p<0.001) were approximately twice as high in the iron deficiency group, while SII values (p<0.001) nearly tripled and CRP was up to five times higher (p<0.001). Multiple linear regression showed that weight excess was positively associated with higher NLR, PLR, MLR, SII and CRP levels.Conclusion: Statistically significant association was found between iron deficiency, weight excess and inflammatory hematimetric ratios in the studied children. These ratios may be a simple, low cost and widely available method to monitor children with higher risk of metainflammation related to iron deficiency and weight excess.