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CC BY 4.0 · Journal of Child Science 2021; 11(01): e199-e204
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1731073
Original Article

Lactoferrin Efficacy versus Ferrous Sulfate in Treatment of Children with Iron Deficiency Anemia

Osama Mahmoud El-Asheer 
1   Pediatric Department, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Asyut, Egypt
,
Ahmed Gaber Ahmed
1   Pediatric Department, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Asyut, Egypt
,
Zainab AbdelAal Abdel Hafez
2   Clinical Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Asyut, Egypt
,
Marwa AbdelHafiz Dahpy 
3   Department of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Asyut, Egypt
,
Amal AbdElSalam Soliman
1   Pediatric Department, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Asyut, Egypt
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Abstract

Lactoferrin (LF) is an iron-binding globular glycoprotein that is structurally and chemically similar to serum transferrin. Many studies have been done to evaluate the effect of oral LF administration on iron deficiency anemia (IDA) with controversial results. This study was designed to compare the efficacy of LF versus oral ferrous sulfate (OFS) therapy in the treatment of children with IDA. A significant increase in mean hemoglobin and serum iron concentrations was noted in the group that received oral bovine LF (11.06 ± 0.96 and 42.79 ± 6.14, respectively) versus the group that received OFS (10.24 ± 0.57 and 28.94 ± 5.05, respectively, with p < 0.001 for each) after 30 days of the treatment with fewer side effects (9.3 vs. 33.3% with p = 0.043). Oral bovine LF is a more effective and safer alternative in treating iron deficiency and IDA compared with OFS with clinical benefits of fewer side effects and better patient compliance.

Keywords

Iron - iron deficiency anemia - lactoferrin - ferrous sulfate - hemoglobin

Authors' Contributions

All authors read and approved the final manuscript. O.M.E. designed the study, evaluated the patients, collected, analyzed, and interpreted the data. O.M.E., A.G.A., and A.A.S. contributed to the conception and design of the study, literature search, and manuscript review. M.A.D. contributed to the biochemical laboratory assessment, interpretation of data analysis, manuscript writing, and review. All authors helped in revising and approving the manuscript.


Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University (IRB no: 17100915). Verbal informed consents were taken from parents with explanation of benefits of the study, risks expected, and suggested treatment for each case. As the manuscript does not contain any kind of content which can reveal patient's identity, so written informed consent was not taken from the guardians.




Publication History

Received: 07 December 2020

Accepted: 26 March 2021

Article published online:
20 July 2021

© 2021. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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