Anemia

Research Article

Burden and Determinants of Anemia in a Rural Population in South India: A Cross-Sectional Study

Table 2

Clinical and sociodemographic characteristics and associations with any-type anemia (mild, moderate, or severe) by sex for a sample of adults from rural Tamil Nadu, India.


Characteristic	Men (n = 341)		Women (n = 412)
Characteristic	n (%)	Crude OR, any-type anemia (95% CI)	n (%)	Crude OR, any-type anemia (95% CI)

Anemia status (Hb concentration)
Healthy (men/women: ≥130/≥120 g/L)	221 (64.8)	Ref	176 (42.7)	Ref
Mild anemia (men/women: 110-129/110-119 g/L)	75 (22.0)	NA	74 (18.0)	NA
Moderate anemia (80-109 g/L)	37(10.9)	NA	148 (35.9)	NA
Severe anemia (<80 g/L)	8 (2.3)	NA	14 (3.4)	NA

Family size
≤2	42 (12.3)	Ref	83 (20.1)	Ref
3-5	214 (62.8)	0.50 (0.3, 1.0)	239 (58.0)	0.7 (0.4, 1.2)
>5	85 (24.9)	0.40 (0.2, 0.9)	90 (21.8)	0.9 (0.5, 1.7)

Age categories
20-35	84 (24.6)	Ref	125 (30.3)	Ref
36-60	186 (54.5)	3.0 (1.5, 5.8)	220 (53.4)	1.08 (0.7, 1.7)
>60	71.0 (20.8)	8.4 (3.9, 18.0)	67 (16.3)	1.03 (0.6, 1.9)

BMI categories (kg/m²)
Normal weight (≥18.5 & <23)	139 (40.8)	Ref	162 (39.3)	Ref
Underweight (<18.5)	84 (24.6)	2.3 (1.3, 4.1)	85 (20.6)	1.1 (0.6, 1.8)
Overweight (≥23 & <25)	56 (16.4)	1.9 (1.0, 3.8)	62 (15.0)	0.9 (0.5, 1.7)
Obese (≥25)	62 (18.2)	1.4 (0.7, 2.7)	103 (25.0)	1.1 (0.7, 1.8)

Stunted (height for men/women: <150.5 cm/<139.1 cm)	14 (4.1)	1.6 (1.0, 2.5)	6 (1.5)	1.4 (0.3, 7.7)

Tobacco use (paan and/or smoking)	169 (49.6)	1.1 (0.7, 1.7)	128 (31.1)	0.5 (0.4, 0.7)

Education
Illiterate	174 (51.0)	Ref	315 (76.5)	Ref
Literate but did not complete primary school	94 (27.6)	0.7 (0.4, 1.3)	48 (11.7)	0.9 (0.5, 1.6)
Finished primary school	59 (17.3)	0.5 (0.3, 1.0)	46 (11.2)	0.7 (0.4, 1.3)
Finished secondary school	14 (4.1)	1.3 (0.4, 4.0)	3 (0.7)	1.5 (1.2, 1.9)

Primary occupation^†
Subsistence/small-scale agriculture producer or labourer	211 (61.9)	Ref	314 (76.2)	Ref
Commercial agriculture producer	48 (14.1)	1.0 (0.5, 1.9)	27 (6.6)	0.5 (0.2, 1.1)
Entrepreneur, business employee, or civil servant	39 (11.4)	0.8 (0.4, 1.6)	25 (6.1)	1.7 (0.69, 4.2)
MGNREGA^‡	4 (1.2)	3.2 (0.3, 35.8)	14 (3.4)	1.8 (0.5, 5.7)
Migrant labour	4 (11.7)	0.40 (0.2, 0.9)	32 (7.8)	0.9 (0.4, 1.9)

Wealth index (by tertile)
Low	108 (31.7)	Ref	200 (48.5)	Ref
Middle	112 (32.8)	0.7 (0.4, 1.2)	121 (29.4)	0.5 (0.3, 0.9)
High	121 (35.5)	0.6 (0.4, 1.1)	91 (22.1)	0.8 (0.5, 1.3)

Caste
Low	43 (12.6)	Ref	52 (12.6)	Ref
Middle	271 (79.4)	1.7 (0.8, 3.5)	315 (76.4)	0.8 (0.5, 1.5)
High	27 (7.9)	1.8 (1.1, 2.5)	45 (10.9)	1.4 (0.6, 3.3)

Religion
Hindu	327 (95.9)	Ref	386 (9.4)	Ref
Christian	4 (1.2)	0.6 (0.1, 5.8)	8 (1.9)	2.0 (0.4, 10.4)
Muslim	10 (2.9)	1.2 (0.3, 4.3)	18 (4.4)	0.4 (0.2, 1.2)

NA: not applicable, predictor perfectly predicts outcome; Ref: referent category.
<0.2; <0.05; <0.01 .
rimary occupation defined as the income- or livelihood-generating activity that takes up most amount of time.
^‡Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act Scheme.