Anaemia Screening Using Various Pallor Sites In Children

The presence of clinical pallor in any of the body sites (conjunctival pallor, tongue pallor, nail bed pallor, palmar pallor) is a reliable indicator of anaemia. Out of these, conjunctival pallor is the most sensitive in detecting the anaemia as the grading of anaemia increases from mild to severe. Hence in rural settings where field workers mostly rely on the clinical signs for detecting anaemia, must give 1st preference to conjunctival pallor and if long standing conjunctival pallor is present along with tongue pallor and nail bed pallor, then field-worker should immediately refer that child to the CHC/DH. Since the haematological parameters are interrelated with each other as well as with the gender and age groups and dietary habits, constant monitoring and intervention strategy is needed while providing nutritional supplementation to eradicate anaemia.