[Frequency of anemia in Rostock students]

For the purpose of determining the frequency of anaemia a check-up was made in 735 students (498 females, 237 males) at an age of at least 19 years at the beginning of their university studies. 9.4% of them had subnormal haemoglobin values. 91.3% of them were female students. A comparison between the test persons with a decrease of haemoglobin values and those without it on the one hand and data gathered from the students' health certificate on the other hand, revealed no ensured aetiologic connection. Analyzing the state of health of that group with lowered Hb-values showed that more than half of them suffered from diseases (mostly infections) at the time, when the blood examination was made. A check-up made one year later resulted in a high percentage of normalized values. Comparisons taken from medical literature clearly indicate that the frequency of anaemia of this student population examined here is relatively low in total. From an organizational point of view, complete check-up examinations shoudl be carried out or induced for female students by the outpatient departments working at the institutions of higher learning because they provide better possibilities of covering them.