Prevalence of iron deficiency among Chinese children aged 6 to 36 months in Montreal.

Screening for iron deficiency was undertaken among a group of Chinese children aged 6 to 36 months to determine the prevalence of the condition and its association with infant feeding. Of the 346 children studied, 12.1% were found to be iron deficient. The overall prevalence rate of thalassemia minor was 6.7%. Among the 166 children aged 6 to 12 months, more of those who were breast-fed for at least 2 months than of those who were bottle-fed were iron deficient (27.0% v. 7.0%; p less than 0.001). This difference persisted after controlling for the effect of iron-fortified formula. No such difference was found among those older than 12 months. The observed prevalence of iron deficiency was closer to the rate reported for black children than to that reported for white children in the United States. The findings stress the importance of conducting further studies of iron deficiency among Chinese subpopulations in North America.