Prevalence of anemia among toddlers (12-36 months) in urban area of district Rohtak, Haryana

Background: Children are considered as an important asset for any country and their health as one of the important indicators of a healthy country. There are several factors affecting children's health and anemia is one of them. Globally around 1.62 billion people are affected by it, which corresponds to 24.8% of the population, with the highest prevalence of anemia (47.4%) among preschool-aged children.

Aim: The present study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of anemia among toddlers (12-36 months) and to determine the associated factors.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among toddlers (12-36 months) in the urban field practice area of Pt. B.D. Sharma PGIMS, Rohtak. A total of 170 toddlers were enrolled in the study and their mothers were interviewed using a semi-structured pretested questionnaire. Hb was estimated by Sahli's acid hematin method. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 20.

Results: In the present study, more than half (55.9%) participants were girls and 44.1% were boys. The overall prevalence of anemia was found to be 62.4%, with mild, moderate, and severe anemia being 41.8%, 17.7%, and 2.9%, respectively. The children with regular intake of iron supplementation were found to be 6.625 times likely to be nonanemic as compared to those with no supplementation.

Conclusion: Every endeavor should be made to combat the anemia in children through multisectoral and multipronged approach such as nutritional education of mothers, growth monitoring, nutritional supplementation, etc.