title: Questionnaire for early detection of occult anemia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Anemia is a common condition that is often missed. We aimed to devise a questionnaire for detection of occult anemia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A questionnaire survey was done of 442 new gastroenterology outpatients to detect potential symptoms of anemia. Then hematology tests were performed and anemia was defined by World Health Organization criteria. Data were analyzed by the stepwise logistic regression method to determine adjusted odds ratios and extract relevant items. After further selection of variables, the sensitivity and specificity of three potential questionnaires were analyzed using receiver operating characteristic curves.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seven items were selected and a new questionnaire was devised to detect occult anemia. It showed a sensitivity of 70% and also a specificity of 70% when back-tested on the subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This new questionnaire may be useful for detecting occult anemia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Kitasato University East Hospital, 2-1-1 Asamizodai, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, 228-8520 Japan. koizumi@med.kitasato-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Wasaburo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Koizumi
authors.forename: Katsunori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saigenji
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000740:Anemia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors