Medicina Comunitária e Educação em Saúde

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A Population-based Anaemia Screening using Point-of-care in Estimating Prevalence of Anaemia in Malaysian Adults: Findings from a Nationwide Survey

Awaluddin SM, Ahmad NA, Naidu BM, Mohamad MS, Yusof M, Razak MA, Salleh R, Mohd Yusoff MF, Aris T

Background: Anaemia is one of the most common public health problems. Globally, the most affected group is women of reproductive age. This study aims to describe the prevalence of anaemia among Malaysian adults.

Methods: Data were obtained from the National Health and Morbidity Survey 2015, a population-based study. This study used a cross-sectional design with a nationally representative sample. Respondents aged 15 years and above from the selected livings quarters and who gave their consent, were recruited in this study. Haemoglobin level was measured using HemoCue® Hb 201+ System© point-of-care testing based on capillary blood sample. Data analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS software version 21 taking into consideration the complex sampling design.

Results: There were 19,908 out of 21,445 respondents who participated in this study. The response rate towards point-of-care screening method was good except for those of young age and Chinese ethnicity. The overall prevalence of anaemia was 24.16% (95% CI: 23.16-25.19) with an estimated projection to 4,858,646 people. The prevalence of anaemia for the specific groups were 34.75% (95% CI: 33.09-36.46), 34.67% (95% CI: 33.02-36.37), 35.27% (95% CI 33.15-37.45) for non-pregnant women (15-49), women of reproductive age and older adults (≥ 60) respectively. Anaemia was positively associated with female sex (aOR=2.84; 95% CI: 2.62-3.07), Indian ethnicity (aOR=1.54; 95% CI: 1.31-1.80), those who were currently not working (aOR=1.11; 95% CI: 1.02-1.20) and age (aOR: 1.01; 95% CI: 1.00-1.01).

Conclusion: Anaemia is a significant health problem that should be monitored periodically especially among women of reproductive age and the elderly. Preventive measures such as iron supplementation should thus be started from the younger population.