Introduction. Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is a major public health problem with important medico-social impact in both developing and developed countries. According to the WHO data, there are more than 2 billion of anemic people, about 50% being attributed to iron deficiency (ID). This condition is associated with poor nutrition, intense growth, increased needs, increased blood losses, etc. Material and methods. 176 medical students (48 males and 128 females) were enrolled in prospective study and evaluated in the 1st and 5th academic years. The interventions consisted of taking a detailed history, physical examination, laboratory investigations. Prelatent ID was diagnosed by serum ferritin estimated as <15ηg/ml in females and < 30ηg/ ml in males. The average age was 19,7±0,09 years in the first year and 24,7±0,09 years in the fifth year. Results. The average level of ferritin (M±m) at the first evaluation was 19,5±1,91ηg/ml, being 12,0±0,781ηg/ml in females and 39,6±3,13ηg/ ml in males. The lowest ferritin values showed significant differences between the sexes: 0,53ηg/ ml in females and 2,48ηg/ml in males. During the second evaluation, the average level of ferritin increased to 23,9±1,55ηg/ml, mostly on males’ account (47,7±4,37 ηg/ml), while the lowest values (15,0±1.00 ηg/ml) were observed in females. The average ID rate was 61,9% (CI-95%:61,0-62,8); in females 69.5% (CI-95%:68,2-70,8) and in males 41.7% (CI-95%:39,0-44,3). Conclusions. The prevalence of prelatent ID was high in our cohort (61.9%), predominantly among females, exceeding published WHO data for Eastern Europe. Our results support the need to prevent the IDA by supplementation or fortification of food with iron.