ABSTRACT
Background: Anemia is seen in a large proportion of the population especially in developing countries. It poses a major challenge to improving the health indices especially in the female and pediatric populations. Anemia causes increased disability, morbidity and mortality. Presence of anemia prolongs hospital stay and increases the possibility of re-admission. The diagnosis and management of anemia in hospitalized patients will improve outcomes of this population
Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of anemia, its etiology and its association with various risk factors
Study Design: Cross-sectional study
Place and Duration of Study: Department of Medicine, United Medical and Dental College, Karachi from May, 2016 to December, 2016
Methodology: All adult patients admitted in the medical wards of Creek General Hospital were included in the study. Anemia was defined as a hemoglobin of <13g/dl in males and <12g/dl in females. All anemic patients were taken as cases while non-anemic patients were taken as controls. Critically ill patients, patients with active bleeding and pregnant women were excluded from the study. The data was recorded on a detailed proforma, and the etiology, severity, type of anemia and associated factors were recorded. The data was presented as means with standard deviation for continuous variables and as percentages for categorical variables. Comparison of different factors with anemia was computed using SPSS 20.0. Chi-square and student t- test were used and p-value of <0.05 was considered significant
Results: Around 71% of the patients were found to be anemic. 72.5% of the female population and 67% of the male population were anemic. The commonest cause of anemia was infection. Majority of the women had microcytic anemia. There was no relationship of age, income, educational status, number of dependents and diet on the presence of anemia. In women anemia was significantly related to breast feeding and parity. Infectious diseases, nutritional deficiency and gastrointestinal loss were the most common causes of anemia in the studied population
Conclusion: Anemia is very common in hospitalized medical patients. Infection and nutritional deficiencies are the most cause of this anemia