Abstract:

Objective To investigate the values of FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand（Flt-3L），transferrin（TF） and 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25（OH）D] in the auxiliary diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia among infants and children. Methods Totally，128 children with iron deficiency anemia（iron deficiency anemia group），68 children with non-iron deficiency anemia（non-iron deficiency anemia group） and 100 infants and children undergoing healthy physical examination（healthy control group） were enrolled. Hemoglobin（Hb），mean corpuscular volume（MCV），mean corpuscular hemoglobin（MCH），mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration（MCHC），Flt-3L，TF，25（OH）D and serum iron（SI） levels were determined. The children with iron deficiency anemia were classified into mild anemia group（61 cases），moderate anemia group（55 cases） and severe anemia group（12 cases）. Risk factor analysis was performed using Logistic regression analysis，and receiver operating characteristic（ROC）curve was used to evaluate the efficiency of each index in the diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia in infants and children. Results Hb，MCV，MCH and MCHC were lower in iron deficiency anemia group and non-iron deficiency anemia group than those in healthy control group（P<0.05）. Serum Flt-3L and TF levels were higher in iron deficiency anemia group than those in healthy control and non-iron deficiency anemia groups（P<0.05），and SI and 25（OH）D levels were lower than those in healthy control and non-iron deficiency anemia groups（P<0.05）. Flt-3L and TF levels were increased with the severity of iron deficiency anemia（P<0.05）. Hb，MCV，MCH，MCHC，25（OH）D and SI levels were decreased with the severity of iron deficiency anemia（P<0.05）. Serum Flt-3L，TF and 25（OH）D were independent risk factors for iron deficiency anemia（P<0.05）. The area under curve（AUC） of the combination of Flt-3L，TF and 25（OH）D for the diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia was 0.983. The AUC for the differential diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia and non-iron deficiency anemia was 0.981. Conclusions Flt-3L，TF and 25（OH）D have diagnostic values in the auxiliary diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia in infants and children，and the diagnostic efficiency of the combined determination is better.

Key words: FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 ligand, Transferrin, 25-Hydroxyvitamin D, Iron deficiency anemia, Infants and children