Prevalence and associated risk factors of anaemia in children aged six months to fifteen years admitted at the university teaching hospital, Lusaka.

Abstract

Anaemia is a public health problem globally affecting 293.1 million children and 28.5% of these children are in the sub Saharan Africa. The study was to determine the prevalence of anaemia and the associated risk factors of anaemia in children aged 6 months to 15 years admitted to the University Teaching Hospital. A cross sectional study was conducted from July 2016 to December 2016.A total of 351 children were studied;45.9% (161/351) were females and 54.1% (190/351) were males (p=0.5). The prevalence of anaemia was (45.9%)161/351.In terms of severity mild, moderate, severe anaemia were 47/161(29%), 86/161(53%) and 28/161(17%) respectively. The age group 6 months to 5 years was the most affected with 25.9% mildly, 55.6% moderately and 18.5% severely anaemic. The associated risk factors studied were malaria, sickle cell disease, malnutrition and HIV infection. Logistic regression analysis revealed that undiagnosed sickle cell disease with haemoglobin-S was the only clinical characteristic independently associated with anaemia (CI-0.2-0.7), p value-0. 001.Anaemia is a major health problem at UTH, and the under-five age group is the most affected. Previous undiagnosed sickle cell anaemia trait or disease was the significant clinical feature found to be associated with anaemia in this study. Therefore, improving on early screening for sickle cell disease and scaling up of deworming in the under five children and generally improving the diet of Zambian children should be advocated for. Preventative strategies including early screening of sickle cell disease, screening for anaemia, routine deworming must target all under-fives regardless of their clinical status or haemoglobin levels. Key words: Anaemia, Prevalence, Risk factors, Zambia, Africa