Prevalence And Risk Factors Of Iron Deficiency Anemia Amongst High Risk Health Care Workers In Udonthani Hospital, Thailand

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is a common problem which causes anemia in patients worldwide. A number of health care workers (HCW) have anemia from annual check up. Objective: To find the prevalence and risk factors of IDA amongst the HCW with microcytic anemia in Udonthani hospital. Materials and methods : One hundred and thirty five (135) high risk female HCWs had repeated CBC, Hb typing and ferritin and answered the questionnaire . High risk HCW is defined as HCW who has Hb IDA is defined as serum ferritin Thalassemia is diagnosed by Hb typing. Thalassemia syndrome are B thal trait, B thal/HbE, homozygous Hb E and heterozygous Hb E. Cost of ferritin test and FBC are 310 baht per test and 0.5 baht per tablet, respectively. We performed a descriptive cross-sectional study. We calculated the sample size from formula: n = ( Z α /2 ) 2 p (1-p)/d 2 with p= 0.45 (from literature review 1 ) 95% confidential level and 20% of an acceptable error, the result was 118. This study followed international standard ICH CGP and was approved by the ethics commitee of Udonthani hospital. Data were analyzed by STATA12. Risk factors and menstruation score were calculated by binary and multiple logistic regressions. Results The total of 2,519 HCWs underwent annual check-up. Three hundred and ninty eight (398) HCWs were found to have anemia (Hb Conclusion Theprevalence of IDA in high risk HCW was high (60.74%). Heavy menstruation is a statistical significant factor. Empirical iron supplement without conducting a ferritin test can save a number of money especially when menstruation score is equal to 2. 1= Control of iron deficiency anemia in low- and middle-income countries. Blood. 2013 Apr 4;121(14):2607-17 Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.