Child Anemia in Cambodia: A Descriptive Analysis of Temporal and Geospatial Trends and Logistic Regression-Based Examination of Factors Associated with Anemia in Children

Abstract

Anemia in children remains a public health concern in developing countries. In Cambodia, the prevalence of anemia among children decreased slightly from 55.2% in 2014 to 49% in 2019. We examined descriptively temporal and geospatial trends of anemia and used logistic regression to analyze potential associations between individual and household characteristics and anemia among children aged 6-59 months using data from the Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey (CDHS) for 2005, 2010, and 2014. Survey weights were applied to account for the complex survey design of the CDHS. We used logistic regression to assess factors associated with anemia among children aged 6-59 months. The prevalence of anemia among children decreased from 62.2% in 2005 to 56.6% in 2014. The proportion of the Cambodian child population with anemia was highest in Pursat (84.3%) for 2005, Kampong Thom (67%) for 2010, and Preah Vihear and Steung Treng (68.6%) for 2014, respectively. Factors independently associated with increased odds of having anemia included children with mothers who were anemic (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) =1.77, 95% CI: 1.58 - 1.97); children who were male (AOR=1.20, 95% CI: 1.07 - 1.33), underweight (AOR=1.24, 95% CI: 1.14 - 1.57), stunted (AOR=1.24, 95% CI: 1.09 - 1.41), or had a recent episode of fever (AOR=1.16, 95% CI: 1.03 - 1.31). Children had decreased odds of having anemia if they were aged 12-23 months (AOR=0.68; 95% CI: 0.55 -0.86), 24-35 months (AOR=0.21; 95% CI: 0.17 - 0.26), 36-47 months (AOR=0.17; 95% CI: 0.13 - 0.21) or aged 48-59 months (AOR=0.15; 95% CI: 0.12 - 0.19) compared to infants; they were also less likely to have anemia if they were from a wealthier household (AOR=0.64; 95% CI: 0.50 - 0.84), and children who took drugs for the intestinal parasite were decreased by 14% (AOR = 0.86; 95% CI: 0.89-0.93) than those who did not take drugs. Anemia remains highly prevalent among children aged 6-59 months in Cambodia. Public health interventions and policies to alleviate anemia should be prioritized to address these factors.