Prevalence of and factors associated with anaemia in women of reproductive age in Bangladesh, Maldives and Nepal: Evidence from nationally-representative survey data

• Published in: PloS one 2021-01, Vol.16 (1), p.e0245335-e0245335
• Main Authors: Rahman, Md Ashfikur, Rahman, Md Sazedur, Aziz Rahman, Muhammad, Szymlek-Gay, Ewa A, Uddin, Riaz, Islam, Sheikh Mohammed Shariful
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Anemia; Breastfeeding & lactation; Control; Developing countries; Drinking water; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Education; Exercise; Females; GDP; Gross Domestic Product; Health surveys; Hemoglobin; Households; LDCs; Maternal mortality; Medicine and Health Sciences; Menopause; Menstruation; Morbidity; Nursing schools; Nutrition; People and Places; Physical fitness; Polls & surveys; Postpartum; Pregnancy; Prevention; Principal components analysis; Productivity; Public health; Regression analysis; Reproductive sterilization; Research and Analysis Methods; Risk factors; Social Sciences; Sterilization; Underweight; Urban areas; Variables; Womens health
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245335

Anaemia is a significant public health problem in most South-Asian countries, causing increased maternal and child mortality and morbidity. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of and factors associated with anaemia in women of reproductive age in Bangladesh, Maldives, and Nepal. We used the nationally-representative Demographic and Health Surveys Program data collected from women of reproductive age (15-49 years) in 2011 in Bangladesh (n = 5678), 2016 in Maldives (n = 6837), and 2016 in Nepal (n = 6419). Anaemia was categorized as mild (haemoglobin [Hb] of 10.0-10.9 g/dL for pregnant women and 11.0-11.9 g/dL for non-pregnant women), moderate (Hb of 7.0-9.9 g/dL for pregnant women and 8.0-10.9 g/dL for non-pregnant women), and severe (Hb