Determinants of childhood anemia in india

We analyzed a sample of 112714 children from the 2015-2016 Indian National
Fertility and Health Survey with available data on hemoglobin. Multinomial
logistic regression models were used to establish associations between
parent anemia, household characteristics and nutritional intake of children.
Linear regression analysis was also conducted to see the link between the
household characteristic and childhood nutritional intake on one hand and
hemoglobin levels on the other hand. A number of socio-demographic
factors, namely maternal age, type of residence and maternal education, as
well as wealth index, among others correlate with incidence of childhood
anemia. For instance, whereas 52.9% of children in the richest households
were anemic, 63.2% of children in the poorest household were anemic (p
< 0.001). Mean Vitamin A intake in the last six months was 0.63 (0.626-
0.634) which was 0.18% of the recommended intake. Mean iron intake, from
sources other than breast milk, in the last 24 hours was 0.29 (0.286-0.294)
and 2.42% of the recommended daily intake. Fifty-nine percent (58.5%) of
the children surveyed were anemic (Hb level: 9.75 g/dL [9.59-9.91]). Children
with anemia were more prone to being iron deficient (odds ratio [OR]: 0.981
(0.961-1.001), Vitamin A deficient (OR: 0.813 (0.794-0.833)), and have lower
maternal hemoglobin level (OR: 1.992 (1.957-2.027)). Combining nutritional
supplementation and food-fortification programmes with reduction in
maternal anemia and family poverty may yield optimal improvement of
childhood anemia in India.