Anaemia in National Service Registrants in Singapore

This study describes the occurrence of anaemia (haemoglobin level below 12.5 g/dl) amongst National Service (NS) Registrants in Singapore. A total of 32,320 subjects were screened and the prevalence of anaemia was 0.51%. The Indians had the highest prevalence compared to the other races. The commonest cause of anaemia was haemoglobinopathy. Though alpha-thalassaemia is the commonest form of haemoglobinopathy in Singapore, we found that beta-thalassaemia was the commonest form of haemoglobinopathy in anaemic subjects. In the Chinese and Malay races, the commonest cause of anaemia was haemoglobinopathy. For the Indian and Other races, it was iron deficiency. Of all the subjects with haemoglobinopathy, 86.2% did not have a family history of anaemia. Iron deficiency occurred in about a third of the anaemic subjects. The prevalence was highest in the low income groups and the Indian and Other races. But with higher standards of living, blood loss may be a more important cause for iron deficiency than poor nutrition.