A Hospital Based Study in Anemia Prevalence in Children of South India- Vikarabad

Abstract

Background: In India, anemia is a major public health problem, affecting all age classes, but the most affected are children and women in the child-bearing age group. Data from South Indian (Vikarabad) hospital patients, however, is not available. We intended to research the prevalence of anemia in a tertiary care hospital among children aged 2-12 years of age. Materials and Methods: From November 2018 to August 2019, a total of 526 children aged 2-12 years were enrolled in the research over 9 months. Using the completely automatic Hematanalyser, a total blood count was obtained by taking 2ml of blood. In compliance with the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard for the given age, anemia was diagnosed. Using informative and inferential statistics, the data was analysed and interpreted. Results: The average incidence of anemia was 33.07 percent for children 2-12 years old. The most prevalent (56.32 percent) was severity wise, moderate anemia, while extreme anemia was rare. Compared with boys, the incidence of anemia was marginally higher among children, but not statistically significant (p>0.05). Age was strongly correlated with both anemia and mean haemoglobin (Hb) (p<0.05), but there was no substantial correlation with other demographic factors, including gender or parental education (p>0.05). Conclusion: Anemia is widespread among south India (Vikarabad) children in the current sample, and affects boys and girls equally. While it is very normal to have moderate anemia, it stays asymptomatic and therefore goes unnoticed and untreated.

Keywords: Anemia, Prevalence, Tertiary care hospital, South India