[Study on anemia among premarital women in 6 counties from 1993 to 2003].
OBJECTIVE
To describe the prevalence of anemia and yearly trends (1993-2003) among women who came to the hospitals or maternal and child health units for premarital examinations in 6 counties of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.


METHODS
Data were obtained from the records of the premarital examinations in perinatal health care surveillance system that had been established since 1992 in these areas. We reviewed hemoglobin levels of those women who were enrolled in the perinatal health care surveillance system from 1993 to 2003. Anemia was defined according to the WHO (2001) criterion. We calculated the prevalence of anemia and analyzed the yearly trends based on the data of hemoglobin concentration.


RESULTS
In the period of 1993-2003, there were 82 995 anemia cases identified among 193,434 women with an overall anemia rate as 42.9%. The rates of anemia were high (65.5%) in 1993 but low (25.8%) in 2003. 99.7% of the anemic women whose hemoglobin concentration were between 80-119.9 g/L. Time trend analysis indicated a significant decline on anemia rate while monthly analysis showed that the prevalence rates were high (48.2%) in September and low in March (39.5%). The results also showed that the prevalence rates of anemia were relatively higher in farmers and workers in rural enterprises, and lower in Han ethnicity than minorities. The higher prevalence rates of anemia were presented among the women with less education, lower body mass index, or at older age.


CONCLUSIONS
For those premarital women in 6 counties of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, the overall anemic rate presented a significant downward trend between 1993 and 2003 while the prevalence of anemia remained high, especially for the women with less education, lower body mass index or older ages.
Xu
Shang-zhi
SZ
Department of Preventative Medical in Medical School, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832002, China.
Jin
Lei
L
Ye
Rong-wei
RW
Zheng
Jun-chi
JC
Yang
Rui-Lan
RL
Tang
Jian-fang
JF
Cai
Li-juan
LJ
Hu
Xiu-hua
XH
Chen
Hao
H
Sun
Xia-mei
XM
Li
Zhu
Z
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000740:Anemia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011291:Premarital Examinations; D055815:Young Adult