Prevalence and influencing factors of anemia among 6-23 months old children in poor rural areas

Objective To investigate anemia prevalence and its influencing factors among rural children aged 6-23 months in poor areas and to provide evidences for making effective intervention measures.Methods Totally 7 221 rural infants and young children aged between 6 and 23 months in 25 poor counties in Wuling and Luoxiao mountainous areas of Hunan province were selected using township-based probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling and surveyed with a questionnaire interview with their caregivers and hemoglobin measurement in August 2015.Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze influencing factors of anemia prevalence.Results The prevalence of anemia in the children was 25.2%.Among the children with the disorder,the proportion of mild,moderate,and severe anemia were 95.9%,4.0%,and 0.1%,respectively.Multivariate analysis showed that significant influencing factors for anemia included aged 12-17 months (odds ratioOR=0.812,95% confidence interval95%CI=0.709-0.931),aged 18-23 months (OR=0.552,95%CI=0.475-0.640),Dong nationality (OR=0.717,95%CI=0.558-0.922),with a father working in service industry (OR=0.864,95%CI=0.756-0.986),with breast feeding(OR=1.459,95%CI=1.281-1.660),and with effective use of packaged nutrition supplement (OR=0.742,95%CI=0.663-0.830)among the infants and young children.Conclusion The prevalence of anemia in the children aged between 6 and 23 months in poor rural areas of Hunan province is still at a relatively high level and influenced by multiple factors.