title: Anemia in rural China's elementary schools: prevalence and correlates in Shaanxi province's poor counties.
abstract: Despite growing wealth in China, a significant share of children across rural China still have no access to iron-rich foods, vitamins, and other micronutrients. Such poor diets may result in high incidences of nutritional problems, including anemia. The objective of the study was to increase understanding of the extent of anemia, and identify structural correlates of anemia in poor Shaanxi province's primary schools. The article shows that the overall anemia rate is 21.5 percent when using a blood hemoglobin cutoff of 115 g/L (39 percent with a cutoff of 120 g/L). We find that those students that are boarding at school and eat lunch away from home are more likely to be anemic. Children with anemia are found to have lower height for age (HAZ) scores. If this part of Shaanxi province is representative of all poor counties in China, these findings mean millions of children in poor rural China may be anemic.
authors: Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy, and Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China. luorf.ccap@igsnrr.ac.cn
authors: Renfu
authors: R
authors: Luo
authors: Max
authors: M
authors: Kleiman-Weiner
authors: Scott
authors: S
authors: Rozelle
authors: Linxiu
authors: L
authors: Zhang
authors: Chengfang
authors: C
authors: Liu
authors: Brian
authors: B
authors: Sharbono
authors: Yaojiang
authors: Y
authors: Shi
authors: Ai
authors: A
authors: Yue
authors: Reynaldo
authors: R
authors: Martorell
authors: Michelle
authors: M
authors: Lee
mesh_terms: D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001827:Body Height; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006130:Growth Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011203:Poverty; D015995:Prevalence; D012423:Rural Health; D012574:Schools; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins