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The prevalence of anaemia depends on the definition: an example from the Aboriginal Birth Cohort Study

D Mackerras1, G Singh

  • 1Menzies School of Health Research, Casuarina, Northern Territory, Australia. Dorothy.Mackerras@foodstandards.gov.au

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition
|July 21, 2006
PubMed

Insights

Different anaemia definitions from WHO and US lead to varied prevalence rates in Aboriginal children. This highlights potential issues in identifying groups for anaemia intervention programs.

Area of Science:

  • Paediatric Haematology
  • Public Health
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Anaemia diagnosis relies on haemoglobin and haematocrit cutoffs, with differing recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States (US).
  • Variations in these diagnostic criteria can impact the estimated prevalence of anaemia and the identification of at-risk populations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare anaemia prevalence estimates using WHO and US criteria in Australian Aboriginal children.
  • To investigate the underlying reasons for discrepancies in prevalence rates between the two sets of criteria.

Main Methods:

  • A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 517 Australian Aboriginal children aged 9-13 years.
  • Data collection involved home interviews and blood sample analysis.

Main Results:

  • Anaemia prevalence varied significantly, ranging from 6% to 24.4% depending on the criteria used.
  • The WHO criteria identified 12-13-year-old girls as a high-prevalence group, while US criteria indicated 12-13-year-old boys as having the highest, though not statistically significant, prevalence.
  • Simulations revealed that inconsistent centiles in age-sex specific haemoglobin and haematocrit distributions underlie the WHO cutoffs, explaining the divergent results.

Conclusions:

  • The variability in anaemia diagnostic criteria can lead to misidentification of target groups for intervention programs.
  • Standardizing or carefully considering diagnostic criteria is crucial for effective public health strategies in paediatric anaemia.
Abstract

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