BACKGROUND: Iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) is a common clinical problem throughout the world and an enormous public health risk in developing and even in industrialized countries. Traditionally, several methods other than serum ferritin were used to assess IDA. Our main objective was to obtain the prevalence of IDA by serum ferritin in 6 month to 5-year-old children in the province of Fars in southern Iran. MATERIAL/METHODS: 5 cc blood of 583 randomly selected, 6 months to 5 years old children was collected. The serum ferritin, hemoglobin (Hb), Hematocrit (Hct), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentrate (MCHC), RBC counts and WBC counts were checked. A questionnaire was filled and the data analyzed. RESULTS: The mean value for SF was 23.6+/-14.3 ng/dl. 115 (19.7%) children had low serum ferritin (SF

Keywords: Anemia, Iron-Deficiency - epidemiology, Iran - epidemiology