Anthropometric Markers With Specific Cut-Offs Can Predict Anemia Occurrence Among Malaysian Young Adults

Abstract

Objective: Anemia bears a high global prevalence with about 1.6 billion people living with this affliction. Malaysia carries the burden of 13.8% anemia prevalence which urges for extensive research directed to its prediction and amelioration. This is the first study that aims to (a) propose simple non-invasive predictive anthropometric markers and their specific cut-off values for early prediction of anemia among the young adults in Malaysia, (b) provide anemia prevalence based on both gender and ethnicity among young adults of Malaysia.Method: The present cross-sectional study included 245 participants (113 men and 132 women) aged between 18 and 30 years. Anthropometric parameters were measured following the standard protocols. Blood samples were collected and hemoglobin levels were determined using the HemoCue haemoglobinometer (Hb 201+ System, Angelhom, Sweden) to detect the presence of anemia. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was employed to assess and compare the efficacy of anthropometric indices in the prediction of anemia. Data were analyzed using SPSS (v. 22.0, IBM, Chicago, IL, USA) and MedCalc (v. 19.05, Ostend, Belgium).Result: The ROC analysis indicates that body mass index (BMI) is the best anthropometric marker with the highest area under the curve (AUC) and specificity (SP) for predicting the presence of anemia in young adults in Malaysia. Thus, the study proposes the optimal cut-off value of BMI for young men of Malaysia as 20.65 kg/m2 (AUC: 0.889) and young women of Malaysia as 19.7 kg/m2 (AUC: 0.904). The study also reports that Malaysian Indians have the highest prevalence of anemia (26.22%) followed by Malays (21.54%), “Others” (indigenous ethnic group) (20%), and Chinese (14.5%), with an overall higher prevalence of anemia in young adult women (21.96%) than in men (18.6%) of Malaysia.Conclusion: The proposed anemia-predictive anthropometric markers with optimal cut-off values will aid early detection of anemia among young adults in Malaysia, and given its simple, inexpensive, and intelligible approach, it can be widely used. The ease of anemia prediction together with the reported distribution of anemia prevalence based on gender and ethnicity will facilitate in gauging the necessary extent of strategies of anemia management in the young adult population of Malaysia.

Haemoglobin status to determine nutritional anaemia and its association with breakfast skipping and BMI among nursing undergraduates of Farasan Island, KSA

“…Analysis by BMI categories in the present study showed that the percentage of anaemia was found to be high among underweight students (88⋅9 %) as compared to normal (45⋅8 %), overweight (27⋅3 %) and obese participants (11⋅1 %). Studies conducted by various other scientists have also documented almost similar findings ( 10 , 32 – 34 , 80 ) . These findings suggest that good nutritional status reduces the risk of anaemia.…”

“…For this reason, BMI has been considered as one of the parameters to determine nutritional status of the study participants and hence nutritional anaemia. The majority of studies have associated anaemia with low BMI (31)(32)(33)(34) . Although various studies have been conducted in the past on Hb content anaemia and the associated risk factors at the national (35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41) and international levels (30,34,(42)(43)(44)(45) , information of anaemia and its association with breakfast skipping, and BMI is not available.…”

“…The majority of studies have associated anaemia with low BMI (31)(32)(33)(34) . Although various studies have been conducted in the past on Hb content anaemia and the associated risk factors at the national (35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41) and international levels (30,34,(42)(43)(44)(45) , information of anaemia and its association with breakfast skipping, and BMI is not available. To the best of our knowledge, based on PubMed, Scopus and Google scholar database search, this is the first study that reports anaemia and its association with breakfast skipping, and BMI.…”