Prevalence of anemia and related factors among women in Turkey

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of anemia and related factors among women in Turkey.

Methods: This descriptive study was conducted at the outpatient clinics of the Department of Internal Medicine, Ege University Medical School. Randomly selected women were given questionnaires regarding their socio-demographic and obstetric characteristics. The data were coded and analyzed using SPSS version 17.0 software. Statistical analyses with 95% confidence intervals were considered to be significant if p<0.05.

Results: The study results showed an anemia prevalence of 27.8% in the study sample. Among all anemia diagnoses among the participants, 56.0% were determined to have iron deficiency, 37.1% iron-deficiency anemia, and 6.9% severe anemia. It was observed that anemia was detected among women who were 15-49 years of age (p<0.05), menstruating (p<0.05), had a history of Cesarean section (p<0.05), and had not entered menopause (p<0.05). Based on forward-stepwise-logistic regression analysis, the most important parameter was concluded to be age group, which was followed by menopausal status.

Conclusions: The study results suggest that the anemia prevalence rate is specifically higher among women of reproductive age. To prevent anemia at a low cost, it is recommended to provide women with relevant information and well-planned interactive educational programs.

Abbreviations: BMI: Body Mass Index, TDHS: Turkey Demographic and Health Survey, WHO: World Health Organization.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.332.11771

How to cite this:Saydam BK, Genc RE, Sarac F, Turfan EC. Prevalence of anemia and related factors among women in Turkey . Pak J Med Sci. 2017;33(2):433-438.   doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.332.11771

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