Burden of Anemia in Relation to Thalassemia and Iron Deficiency among Vietnamese Pregnant Women

Abstract

Background and Aims: Information about the extent to which anemia is related to thalassemia and iron deficiency (ID) is not available in Vietnam. This study investigated the burden of anemia in relation to thalassemia and ID among Vietnamese pregnant women. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Thua Thien Hue, Central Vietnam. Blood samples taken from 399 pregnant women with a gestational age <12 weeks were analyzed. Anemia was defined as Hb levels <11 g/dl, and ID as ferritin values <15 ng/ml. Results: Out of 399 participants, 77 (19.3%) were anemic. While the prevalence of ID was 20.1%, the prevalence of ID anemia was 6.0%. The overall prevalence of thalassemia was 7.3%. Of the 77 anemic women, 24 (31.2%) had ID, and 20 (26.0%) had thalassemia genes. The rest (42.9%) were anemic due to unknown causes. Conclusions: The results indicate that ID remains a significant health burden among the study population, together with anemia caused by unknown factors. Thalassemias appear not to contribute to a great extent to anemia among Vietnamese pregnant women. Other causes need to be investigated further in order to develop an effective control program for anemia within the population.

Gestational Iron Deficiency Anemia Is Not Simply a Consequence of Iron Deficiency: An Observational Study for Cofounders.

“…<11 gm/dl), while 14 women had SFC<15 ng/ml, for a frequency of anemia, ID and IDA of 19.3%, 15.9% and 11.4%. These figures coincided with that previously reported by Sukrat et al (2) and Siridamrongvattana et al (3) and with the recently reported by Nguyen et al (25) who found 20% of pregnant women were anemic, 14% had low iron stores and 3% had IDA and by Okafor et al (26) who detected ID and IDA in 20% and 17.9% of pregnant women.…”

“…<11 g/dl) the highest prevalence of anemia and IDA during pregnancy was 14.1% and 6%, respectively. Thereafter, Siridamrongvattana et al (3) reported ID and IDA prevalence of 20.1% and 6%, respectively, of their series of pregnant women. On contrary, Breymann (1) documented that worldwide prevalence of ADI ranged between 20%-80% and consists of a primarily female population.…”

Anaemia in Pregnancy - Not Just Iron Deficiency

“…In this issue of Acta Haematologica , Siridamrongvattana et al [4] report in a cross-sectional study of 399 women in the first trimester of pregnancy in central Vietnam that they found an unexpectedly low prevalence of anaemia (19.3%), iron deficiency (20.1%) and iron-deficiency anaemia (6%). Interestingly, the authors also found that most of the burden of anaemia could not be explained by iron deficiency: 31% of anaemic women had iron deficiency (ferritin <15 μg/l), 26% were found to have a thalassaemia mutation, and the remaining 43% of anaemic women had apparently replete iron stores and no evidence of haemoglobinopathy.…”

“…The continued practice of attributing 50% of cases of anaemia to iron deficiency, and of using anaemia to indicate the prevalence of iron deficiency, may need to be reviewed. As performed by Siridamrongvattana et al [4], a concerted effort to map and distinguish the epidemiology of anaemia from the epidemiology of haemoglobinopathy, malaria and iron deficiency in different low-income settings is needed.…”

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D but not dietary vitamin D intake is associated with hemoglobin in women of reproductive age in rural northern Vietnam

“…Iron deficiency is a major cause of anemia but other factors including infection, inflammation, and other nutrient deficiencies have been recognized as important contributors to its etiology as well [5] , [7] , [8] . In a previous analysis from our group, we reported that nearly 20% of the non-pregnant WRA in this Vietnamese population were anemic, but iron deficiency anemia was relatively low, occurring in only 1.9% of women [9] .…”