Abstract:

Background: Anemia is a global public health problem, at any stage of life. Anemia is often defined in terms of the World Health Organization (WHO) as hemoglobin concentration <12 g/dl in women and <13g/dl in men, these values are most often used in epidemiologic studies. Globally, anemia affects more than 2 billion people accounting for over a quarter of the world population. In 2008 WHO estimated 24.7% of the global population were anemic. Anemia affects low income, middle income, and high-income countries and has significant adverse health consequences as well as adverse impacts on social and economic development.

Problem statement: Even though anemia places a significant burden in many developing nations with such severe consequences, the magnitude of the different types of anemia and its severity has not yet been well documented in different parts of Tanzania. Also, many studies concerning anemia were done in children under 5 years old, pregnant and non-pregnant women at reproductive age with very little attention among men and elderly adult.

Results: Anemia was seen in 13.3% of asymptotic adults. The prevalence of iron deficiency among asymptomatic adults was 27% (108/397). The prevalence of iron deficiency anemia among all participants was 10.61% (44/337). Female gender OR 4.19 [95% CI (2.4-7.34)], unemployment with OR=2.3 [95% CI (1.1-4.72)], use of unbalanced diet with OR=2.14 [95% CI (1.0-4.6)] and body mass index less than 25, OR=2.23 [95% CI (1.33-3.74] were associated with iron deficiency. Gender an odds ratio (OR) of 3.81 [95% CI (1.76-8.25)] and unemployment with OR=2.3[95% CI (1.1-4.72)] were associated with Iron deficiency anemia.