Abstract

PREVALENCE OF ANEMIA IN INPATIENT GENERAL MEDICINE DEPARTMENT IN A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL

Upendra Reddy*, Venkatesh J. S., Patil Meghana, Raghavendra H. S., Tanushree S. Pyati and Zakir Hussain N.

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Abstract

Background: Despite all recent health-related improvements, anemia remains an extensive public health issue which is underdiagnosed or untreated, affecting the lives of about one-fourth of the world population in a geographically heterogeneous pattern. We, therefore, aimed to illustrate the prevalence, severity, most common types, treatment and major determinants of anemia among in-patients of a tertiary care hospital. Objectives: *To evaluate the prevalence of anemia in Inpatients general medicine department. *To estimate type of anemia among patients with hemoglobin value less than normal. *To identify the prevalence of anemia based on age and sex. *To evaluate the prevalence of anemia based on severity. *To assess the prevalence of anemia based on BMI, blood group and nutrition. Methodology: This study was conducted at Chigateri hospital. For this study, data of patients were collected using the data collection form, once the patient had given the data voluntarily after signing the consent form or from the medical record department after their approval. Inclusion criteria: *Patients indicated by haemoglobin level ≤ 13 g/dL (males) and ≤ 12 g/dL (females). *Patients having with or without co-morbidities. *Only inpatients of general medicine ward. *Patients at least 18 years of age and above. *Patients who signed the informed consent. Exclusion criteria: *Patients age less than 18 years. *Females who are pregnant or breastfeeding. *Those patients who underwent recent surgery. *Patient who are not willing to participate in the study. *Outpatient department. After collecting the data, it was analysed and interpreted using MS Word. In this study, prevalence of anemia, types along with number of comorbidities based on age and gender were determined. Results: The prevalence of anemia was found to be 15.23%, in severity of anemia 35.9% were mild, 47.1% were moderate and 17.1% were severe. Compared to females males were more anemic i.e., 52.4% were male and 47.6% were female. Based on age prevalence of anemia was distributed and the study revealed that 18-50byears were 24.1% and more than 50 years of age were 75.9%. Conclusion: This study aided in assessing the prevalence of anemia of patient attending in-door department of a tertiary care hospital based on WHO criteria, which is a tool to assess the severity of anemia based on age and gender. The study revealed that prevalence of anemia was seen to be more in male patients than female patients and more than 60% patients were of age 51 years and above. So we can conclude that, as the age increases both genders are in risk of developing anemia.More than half of the mild anemic patients were untreated/underdiagnosed, mild is not a serious issue but the condition can become serious if left untreated. To improve the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of mild anemia future research should explore provider level and other strategies.

Keywords: Hemoglobin, Prevalence, BMI, Age, Gender, Blood, MCV.