Anemia is prevalent in an urban, African-American adolescent population.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of anemia in urban indigent African-American adolescents.


METHODS
Cross-sectional sample of hemoglobin values.


METHODS
School-based clinic and health fair in an inner-city, predominantly African-American public high school.


METHODS
Ninety-nine adolescents presenting for preparticipation athletic physical examinations between August and December 1990 and 76 adolescents participating in screening activities at a high school health fair on March 12, 1991.


METHODS
Finger-stick and venipuncture hemoglobin samples were obtained from presumably healthy adolescents. The percentage of anemic students was determined by means of a hemoglobin cutoff of less than 120 g/L, and with the exclusion of samples from pregnant students or those positive for sickle cell trait or disease.


METHODS
Hemoglobin values in 169 students.


RESULTS
The mean +/- SD hemoglobin level for girls was 115 +/- 15 g/L; 50% of the girls had hemoglobin levels less than 120 g/L. The mean hemoglobin level for boys was 129 +/- 13 g/L; 16.5% of boys had hemoglobin levels less than 120 g/L.


CONCLUSIONS
Anemia may be a common condition in inner-city African-American adolescents.
Leshan
L
L
Family Practice Center, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA.
Gottlieb
M
M
Mark
D
D
D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American; D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D044383:Black People; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006277:Health Fairs; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D011204:Poverty Areas; D015995:Prevalence; D012016:Reference Values; D012572:School Health Services; D014922:Wisconsin / Q000453:epidemiology
D006454:Hemoglobins