Prevalence of iron deficiency anemia in reproductive age group non pregnant women in underdeveloped area of Amphoe Ban Fang, Khon Khaen Province

Abstract

This research studied the prevalence of iron deficiencyanemia in reproductive age group non pregnant women who livedunderdeveloped villages of Amphoe Ban Fang, Khon Khaen Province,using hematocrit level and serum ferratin as the measurementmethods. The subjects were considered as iron deficiency anemiapatients when hematocrit less than 36% and serum ferratin lessthan 15 ng/ml. During November 1993 to January 1994, the women age between15 and 45 years who were healthy, not pregnant and lived in 12underdeveloped villages of Amphoe Ban Fang were interviewed abouthistory of menstruation, number of offsprings, history ofgastro-intestinal breeding, method of birth control, migration,type of diet and history of aspirin or NSAID used. Hematocrit and serum ferratin were measured among those whopermit blood extraction. From 640 selected subjects, 629 cases permit bloodextraction (98.3%). The prevalence of iron deficiency anemia is4.8%, while prevalence of anemia of any causation is 23.1%. About10.2% of all subjects have increased iron storage or ironoverload. The history of taking aspirin or NSAID frequently showedassociation with iron deficiency anemia with statiscalsignificance (P=0.0015). The other factors showed no significanceassociation. The result of this study showed that, although theprevalence of anemia was high among this group of population, thecommon causation was not iron deficiency as we expected before.Other cause of anemia such as thalassemia and hemoglobinopathiesshould be identified for further study.