Prevalence and Severity of Anemia in Haiti

Abstract

Anemia is a serious health concern worldwide, affecting about 25% of the world's population. Anemia is most common in financially underdeveloped countries such as Haiti, where lack of income and improper sanitation lead to nutritional deficiencies, gastrointestinal infections, and anemia. These conditions cause anemia from insufficient iron and vitamin intake, increased utilization of nutrients by the infectious organism, and blood loss. Reports of anemia prevalence in Haiti are few, represent select communities, and focus mostly on children. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and severity of anemia in Haiti by analyzing samples from a wider population, including mostly adults, and from multiple communities distributed across Haiti. These data include 1500 samples from adult subjects residing in 15 communities distributed across most of Haiti. Either hematocrit or hemoglobin was measured depending on whether electricity was available. Hematocrit was measured by the microhematocrit method and hemoglobin was measured by the MissionPlus Reflectance point-of-care instrument. Data were reported as hemoglobin, so hematocrit was converted to hemoglobin by dividing hematocrit by three. Anemia was defined as hemoglobin below 12.4 g/dL and represented 49.27% of the study population. Anemia cases were then subdivided into mild (11.0g/dL-12.3g/dL; 30.67%; n=460), moderate (8.0g/dL-10.9g/dL; 15.73%; n=236), and severe (<8.0g/dL; 2.87%; n=43). This finding corroborates the high prevalence of anemia in Haiti reported by others using mostly pediatric subjects. According to the WHO classification for public health significance of diseases, this level of anemia would be considered a severe public health problem in Haiti.