Prevalence and determinants of anaemia among children aged 0-59 months in a rural region of Armenia: a case-control study.
OBJECTIVE
Despite the trend of increasing prevalence of childhood anaemia in Armenia, no studies exploring its risk factors have been conducted in the country. The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence and determinants of childhood anaemia in rural Armenia.


METHODS
Blood Hb level was measured among a representative sample of children using the HemoCue Hb201+ analyser. The revealed cases with anaemia were compared with randomly selected non-anaemic controls. Mothers of cases and controls were interviewed. Logistic and linear regression models were fitted to identify the risk factors of anaemia and low Hb level, respectively.


METHODS
Talin communities, Aragatsotn Province, Armenia.


METHODS
Children under 5 years of age in Talin region.


RESULTS
Of the 729 studied children, 32·4% were anaemic with 14·7% having moderate/severe anaemia. Infants were the most affected group with 51·1% being anaemic before 6 months and 67·9% at 6-12 months of age. Fitted regression models identified the following predictors of anaemia: younger age, male gender, shorter birth length, anaemia during pregnancy, lower meal frequency per day, lack of meat in the diet, using dung cakes for heating and living in a community that received an incomplete set of nutrition interventions.


CONCLUSIONS
The study identified several modifiable risk factors that could be targeted to reduce childhood anaemia in rural Armenia and, possibly, in rural areas in other low-/middle-income countries. The suggested interventions include prevention and treatment of anaemia during pregnancy, provision of adequate complementary feeding to children with inclusion of meat in their daily diet and reduction of their exposure to biomass fuel smoke.
1School of Public Health,American University of Armenia,40 Marshal Baghramian Avenue,Yerevan 0019,Armenia.
Anahit
A
Demirchyan
1School of Public Health,American University of Armenia,40 Marshal Baghramian Avenue,Yerevan 0019,Armenia.
Varduhi
V
Petrosyan
2Health Learning Hub,World Vision International Middle East and Eastern Europe Regional Office,Yerevan,Armenia.
Viktoria
V
Sargsyan
3Institute of Human Nutrition,Columbia University,New York,NY,USA.
Kim
K
Hekimian
D018798:Anemia, Iron-Deficiency / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001136:Armenia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016014:Linear Models; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population
D006454:Hemoglobins
Armenia; Childhood anaemia; Complementary feeding; Determinants; Talin region