Prevalence of anaemia and associated factors among geriatric population from rural Mangalore: a cross-sectional study

Anaemia is a major public health problem in all age groups. Anaemia in elderly individuals may result in several adverse health outcomes, including functional dependence and increased risk of therapeutic complications, falls, dementia, and death. Anaemia is often overlooked as symptoms such as weakness, fatigue, shortness of breath etc., are also associated with ageing. Hence, early detection of anaemia in elderly individuals is necessary to prevent delays in diagnosing potentially treatable conditions.

This community-based cross-sectional study aimed to estimate haemoglobin level among the geriatric population, classify anaemia on basis of morphological features and assess the factors associated with anaemia. The study included elderly individuals above 60 years of age, with a sample size of 306 participants residing in rural Mangalore. Convenience sampling (non-random) was done from all the villages. After the Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) approval, data was collected using a semi-structured, validated questionnaire. Blood was taken by venepuncture, later collected into EDTA tubes and further processing of samples was done in a laboratory. Descriptive statistics like median, interquartile range and proportions were used and association of anaemia was analysed by using Chi-square test.

The mean age of the study participants was 67.2 ± 7.1 years. The median (IQR) haemoglobin level was 14.0 (12.9-15.1) g/dL in men and 12.8 (11.9-13.5) g/dL in women. The overall prevalence of anaemia was 25.8%. The prevalence of anaemia in males was 26.5% and among females, the prevalence was 25.4%. Normocytic anaemia was found in 51.3%, microcytic anaemia was found in 44.9% and macrocytic anaemia was found in 3.8% of the participants. A significant association was observed between anaemia and characteristics such as age, number of comorbidities and diabetes mellitus (p < 0.05).

This study revealed that one-fourth of the study population had anaemia. The overall prevalence of anaemia was equal in males and females. The most common type of anaemia was the normocytic normochromic type and there was a significant association between anaemia and characteristics such as age, number of comorbidities and diabetes mellitus.