Gupta Aakriti, Ramakrishnan Lakshmy, Pandey Ravindra Mohan, Sati Hem Chandra, Khandelwal Ritika, Khenduja Preetika, Kapil Umesh
Department of Human Nutrition, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Department of Cardiac Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
J Family Med Prim Care. 2020 Feb 28;9(2):673-682. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_468_19. eCollection 2020 Feb.
Anemia is a major public health problem amongst elderly population in India. Anemia in old age further worsens the age-related decline in functional ability, mobility, fatigue, bone density, and skeletal muscle mass. There is lack of evidence on the prevalence and risk factors of anemia among elderly population. Hence, this study was undertaken.
A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted during the year 2015-2016 in District Nainital, Uttarakhand state, India. A total of 958 subjects were selected from 30 clusters (villages) identified using population proportional to size methodology. Information on sociodemographic profile, nutritional status, body mass index, and dietary intake was obtained. Blood sample was collected from each subject on the filter paper for estimation of hemoglobin (Hb) level using cyanmethemoglobin method.
We found that 92.1% of the elderly subjects were anemic. Moderate and severe anemia was found to be significantly higher among female subjects, unemployed, illiterates, subjects using smoke-producing fuel, subjects belonging to lower socioeconomic status, malnourished and underweight subjects, subjects with self-reported hyperacidity, and subjects who had not utilized health facility and had lower iron and vitamin C intake when compared with subjects with mild anemia and normal hemoglobin levels.
High prevalence of anemia exists amongst elderly subjects living at high-altitude region of rural Uttarakhand State, India. There is a need to educate the elderly population about the importance of adequate intake of foods rich in iron and vitamin C to reduce the prevalence of anemia among them.
贫血是印度老年人群中的一个主要公共卫生问题。老年贫血会进一步加剧与年龄相关的功能能力、活动能力、疲劳、骨密度和骨骼肌质量的下降。目前缺乏关于老年人群贫血患病率和危险因素的证据。因此，开展了本研究。
2015 - 2016年期间，在印度北阿坎德邦奈尼塔尔地区进行了一项基于社区的横断面研究。采用按规模比例抽样方法从30个群组（村庄）中选取了958名受试者。收集了社会人口学特征、营养状况、体重指数和饮食摄入等方面的信息。从每位受试者的滤纸上采集血样，使用氰化高铁血红蛋白法测定血红蛋白（Hb）水平。
我们发现92.1%的老年受试者贫血。与轻度贫血和血红蛋白水平正常的受试者相比，女性受试者、失业者、文盲、使用产生烟雾燃料的受试者、社会经济地位较低的受试者、营养不良和体重不足的受试者、自我报告有胃酸过多的受试者以及未使用过卫生设施且铁和维生素C摄入量较低的受试者中，中度和重度贫血的比例显著更高。
印度北阿坎德邦农村高海拔地区的老年受试者中贫血患病率很高。有必要对老年人群进行教育，使其了解充足摄入富含铁和维生素C食物对于降低他们贫血患病率的重要性。
