Department of Parasitology and Medical Entomology, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Gua Musang District Health Office, Kelantan, Malaysia.
Front Public Health. 2024 Aug 7;12:1412496. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1412496. eCollection 2024.
Anaemia remains a primary concern of public health in developing countries. Indigenous populations are a significant and frequently underreported group at risk for anaemia. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of anaemia and identify its determinants in the Temiar sub-ethnic indigenous Orang Asli (OA) community in Peninsular Malaysia.
A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 640 indigenous Temiar OA participants from a remote settlement in Gua Musang, Kelantan, Malaysia. Data was collected using face-to-face interviews with a standardised pretested questionnaire and through blood samples collected for haemoglobin (Hb) testing. Anaemia status was determined using the Hb level cut-off established by the World Health Organization (WHO). Descriptive analysis was used to determine the prevalence of anaemia, while multiple logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with anaemia.
The overall anaemia prevalence was 44.7% (286/640), and the prevalence rates of mild, moderate and severe anaemia were 42.7, 50.7 and 6.6%, respectively. Anaemia-specific prevalence varied significantly by age group ( < 0.001) and was highest in the ≤5 group for both moderate anaemia (43.4%) and severe (42.1%), followed by the 6-17 age group for mild anaemia (39.3%). The prevalence of anaemia was also highest among students (53.9%), with a significant difference observed between the three anaemia severity classifications ( = 0.002). In the multivariate logistic regression, only age groups of 6-17 (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.38, < 0.001), 18-40 (aOR 0.18, < 0.001) and > 40 (aOR 0.25, < 0.001) were significantly associated with the lower odds of anaemia in the population.
This study has highlighted the high prevalence of anaemia among indigenous OA in Peninsular Malaysia and revealed that younger children were positively associated with childhood anaemia. Effective interventions and special attention to this indigenous population need to be implemented to reduce the risk of anaemia.
贫血仍然是发展中国家公共卫生的主要关注点。土著居民是一个面临贫血风险的重要且经常被低估的群体。本研究旨在评估马来西亚半岛特米亚尔少数民族原住民（OA）社区的贫血患病率，并确定其决定因素。
在马来西亚吉兰丹瓜穆桑的一个偏远定居点，对 640 名特米亚尔原住民 OA 参与者进行了一项基于社区的横断面研究。使用面对面访谈和经过预测试的标准化问卷收集数据，并采集血液样本进行血红蛋白（Hb）检测。使用世界卫生组织（WHO）确定的 Hb 水平临界值来确定贫血状况。使用描述性分析来确定贫血的患病率，而使用多变量逻辑回归来确定与贫血相关的因素。
总体贫血患病率为 44.7%（286/640），轻度、中度和重度贫血的患病率分别为 42.7%、50.7%和 6.6%。贫血特异性患病率按年龄组显著差异（ < 0.001），在≤5 岁组中度贫血（43.4%）和重度贫血（42.1%）中最高，其次是 6-17 岁年龄组轻度贫血（39.3%）。贫血患病率在学生中也最高（53.9%），三种贫血严重程度分类之间存在显著差异（ = 0.002）。在多变量逻辑回归中，仅 6-17 岁（调整优势比 [aOR] 0.38， < 0.001）、18-40 岁（aOR 0.18， < 0.001）和 > 40 岁（aOR 0.25， < 0.001）年龄组与人群中贫血的较低几率显著相关。
本研究强调了马来西亚半岛原住民 OA 贫血患病率高，并表明年幼儿童与儿童期贫血呈正相关。需要针对这一土著人群实施有效的干预措施和特别关注，以降低贫血风险。
