Prevalence and predictors of iron-deficiency anemia: Women's health perspective at reproductive age in the suburb of dried Urmia Lake, Northwest of Iran

Somayyeh Asghari; Rasoul Mohammadzadegan-Tabrizi; Maryam Rafraf; Parvin Sarbakhsh; Javad Babaie

doi:10.4103/jehp.jehp_166_20

Prevalence and predictors of iron-deficiency anemia: Women's health perspective at reproductive age in the suburb of dried Urmia Lake, Northwest of Iran

J Educ Health Promot. 2020 Dec 29:9:332. doi: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_166_20. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Somayyeh Asghari¹, Rasoul Mohammadzadegan-Tabrizi¹, Maryam Rafraf², Parvin Sarbakhsh³, Javad Babaie⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Students' Research Committee, School of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
² Department of Nutrition Research Center, School of Nutrition and Food Science, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
³ Department of Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Health, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
⁴ Department of disaster health, School of Management and Medical Informatics, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.

Abstract

Background: Dried Urmia Lake in the northwest of Iran is a major regional source of sodium and toxic metal aerosols which may cause numerous health problems. The aim of this study was to evaluate iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) and some related risk factors among women of reproductive age in the suburb of dried Urmia Lake to provide the information about the problem to the health-care providers.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 278 healthy nonpregnant, nonlactating women aged 18-45 years, living in the rural area of the Salmas city, closest to the Urmia Lake between February and June 2017. The study participants were selected using a stratified random sampling method with proportional allocation from seven villages. A general questionnaire was completed for each participant to collect sociodemographic information and a 3-day dietary recall questionnaire to obtain daily dietary intakes. IDA was defined as a hemoglobin (Hb) level of <12 g/dl and ferritin concentration of <15 μg/l. Spearman's correlation coefficient and Fisher's exact test were applied to determine sociodemographic factors associated with the serum Hb and ferritin levels.

Results: The prevalence of overall anemia (Hb <12 g/dl) was 7.9%. IDA was determined in 4.3% and iron deficiency (ID) in 19.1% (serum ferritin <15 μg/l) of the participants. There was a significant positive correlation between serum Hb concentrations and the mean daily intakes of protein and iron (P < 0.001). Similarly, a significant positive correlation was observed between serum ferritin levels and body mass index (P < 0.001). Significant inverse associations were found between Hb concentrations and the number of pregnancies and children (P < 0.001), as well as the number of family members (P < 0.05).

Conclusions: Results indicated a mild prevalence of IDA and a relatively high rate of ID among studied participants. Educational programs are needed to improve nutritional habits as well as the use of contraceptives to promote women's health.

Keywords: Aerosols; Iran; health; iron-deficiency anemia; reproductive-age women.