Anthropometric Indices and Prevalence of Iron Deficiency Anaemia among School Children in Delta State, Nigeria: an Intervention Study

Abstract

Background Anaemia being a condition of low levels of haemoglobin in the blood is a public health problem that affects approximately 1.3 to 2.2 billion people worldwide. Aim This study aimed to determine the prevalence of anaemia and its association with anthropometric measurements among school children in Delta State, Nigeria. Materials and Methods The study was a pretest-postest study of 201 primary school (age 6-12 years) and secondary school (age 13-19 years) respondents randomly selected from primary and secondary schools in the three senatorial districts of Delta State. Eighty-three (41.3%) males and 118 (58.7%) females with a mean age of 12.30 ± 3.14 years were enrolledin the study. The preventive intervention protocol consisted of a single dose of vitamin A, daily vitamin C, weekly vitamin E, and twice weekly ferrous sulphate supplements administered for five weeks. Sociodemographic and anthropometric data were collected. Assessment of anaemia was done by pretest-postest haemoglobin determination. Results The prevalence of anaemia at baseline was 38.3% and 0% post-intervention. The prevalence of stunting, underweight, and thinness at baseline were 7.0%, 14.3 % and 15.0%, respectively, and post-intervention were 5.5%, 8.7% and 8.5%, respectively. The prevalence ofoverweight at baseline and post-intervention was 5.0%. The correlation between anaemia and underweight was r =-0.399, p = 0.005. The correlation between anaemia and body mass index wasr = -0.234, ρ< 0.001. Conclusion Nutritional deficiency could cause anaemia among school children. However, intake of antioxidant vitamins and iron might help to reduce the burden.