TY - JOUR
T1 - Association of diarrhea with anemia among children under age five living in rural areas of Indonesia
AU - Howard, Caitlin T.
AU - de Pee, Saskia
AU - Sari, Mayang
AU - Bloem, Martin W.
AU - Semba, Richard D.
N1 - Funding Information:
The NSS was supported by the United States Agency for International Development. This article was conceived and written independently of the funding agency; the funding agency had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, writing or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
PY - 2007/8
Y1 - 2007/8
N2 - The high incidence of anemia of infection among children in developing countries is not well characterized. We investigated the relationship between diarrhea, fever and other risk factors for anemia in young children in the community. The relationship between risk factors for anemia was examined in a cross-sectional study of 85-229 children, aged 6-59 months, from impoverished families in rural areas of Indonesia. The prevalence of anemia was 56.1% among the study subjects. Those considered anemic were more likely to be younger, male, stunted, underweight, wasted, to have low maternal and paternal education and to have current diarrhea or history of diarrhea in the previous 7 days compared with children without anemia (all P < 0.0001). In separate multivariate models adjusted for age, sex, stunting, maternal age and education, and weekly per capita household expenditure, current diarrhea (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.07-1.325, P < 0.0001) and a history of diarrhea in the previous 7 days (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.09-1.25, P < 0.0001) were associated with an increased risk of anemia. In similar models, current fever had a borderline association with anemia (OR 1.14, 95% CI 0.98-1.32, P = 0.09). We conclude that diarrhea is a contributing factor of anemia among young children living in rural areas in Indonesia.
AB - The high incidence of anemia of infection among children in developing countries is not well characterized. We investigated the relationship between diarrhea, fever and other risk factors for anemia in young children in the community. The relationship between risk factors for anemia was examined in a cross-sectional study of 85-229 children, aged 6-59 months, from impoverished families in rural areas of Indonesia. The prevalence of anemia was 56.1% among the study subjects. Those considered anemic were more likely to be younger, male, stunted, underweight, wasted, to have low maternal and paternal education and to have current diarrhea or history of diarrhea in the previous 7 days compared with children without anemia (all P < 0.0001). In separate multivariate models adjusted for age, sex, stunting, maternal age and education, and weekly per capita household expenditure, current diarrhea (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.07-1.325, P < 0.0001) and a history of diarrhea in the previous 7 days (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.09-1.25, P < 0.0001) were associated with an increased risk of anemia. In similar models, current fever had a borderline association with anemia (OR 1.14, 95% CI 0.98-1.32, P = 0.09). We conclude that diarrhea is a contributing factor of anemia among young children living in rural areas in Indonesia.
KW - Anemia
KW - Children
KW - Diarrhea
KW - Fever
KW - Hemoglobin
KW - Indonesia
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34648835041&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=34648835041&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/tropej/fmm011
DO - 10.1093/tropej/fmm011
M3 - Article
C2 - 17463011
AN - SCOPUS:34648835041
SN - 0142-6338
VL - 53
SP - 238
EP - 244
JO - Journal of Tropical Pediatrics
JF - Journal of Tropical Pediatrics
IS - 4
ER -