The relationship of socio-demographic factors with iron deficiency anaemia in children of 1-2 years of age.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate associations between different socio-demographic factors with iron deficiency anaemia in Pakistani children of 1-2 years of age. METHODOLOGY: A case control study, with 50 cases and 100 controls, was conducted at the Community Health Centre, an outpatient clinic of the Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan, between July 1993-July 1995. Informed consent was taken from mothers for their children's blood tests and a questionnaire was administered to them. The data was analyzed using chi-square, t-tests and logistic regression. RESULTS: The numbers of pregnancies, live births and living children were more among cases than controls but the differences were not statistically significant. Although father's education did not show a significant association (OR 1.35, 95% CI 0.22-8.33), maternal education was significantly associated with the children's anaemic status (OR 3.55, 95% CI 1.40-9.02). The difference in monthly incomes between families of cases and controls was the most significant variable among all those studied (p-value 0.006). CONCLUSION: This study showed that while lack of maternal education and low monthly family incomes are both significantly associated with the development of childhood anaemia, low monthly income is most significant.