Microcytic and Malarial Anaemia Prevalence in Urban Children ≤15 Years in the Mount Cameroon Area: A Cross-Sectional Study on Risk Factors

Table 3

Prevalence of anaemia, microcytic anaemia, and malarial anaemia with respect to sociodemographic and clinical factors.

Parameter	Category	N		Prevalence [% (n)] of
				Anaemia	value	Microcytic anaemia	value	Malarial anaemia	value
Sociodemographic factors
Gender	Male	267		70.0 (187)		39.7 (106)	0.196	20.6 (55)
	Female	299		67.6 (202)	0.525	34.4 (103)		18.7 (56)	0.57.6
Age	1–5	291		69.1 (201)		43.3 (126)	<0.001	21.6 (63)
	6–10	141		70.2 (99)	0.781	38.3 (54)		25.5(35)
	11–15	134		66.4 (89)		21.6 (29)		9.0 (12)	0.001
Altitude	Lowland	348		77.3 (269)		49.1 (179)		24.4 (85)
	Highland	218		55.0 (120)	<0.001	17.4 (38)	<0.001	11.9 (26)	<0.001
Point of presentation	Community	208		81.2 (169)		42.8 (89)		15.9 (33)
	Hospital	358		61.5 (220)	<0.001	33.5 (120)	0.028	21.8 (78)	0.089
Parents’ age^c	≤25	16		68.8 (11)		12.5 (2)		6.2 (1)
	26–35	116		80.2 (93)	0.006	39.7 (46)	0.004	21.6 (25)	0.046
	36–50	180		70.6 (127)		31.1 (56)		12.8 (23)
	>50	95		57.9 (55)		18.9 (18)		9.5 (9)
Family size	1–5	286		69.6 (199)		40.9 (117)		21.7 (62)
	6–10	248		71.4 (177)	0.002	33.9 (84)	0.086	17.3 (43)	0.449
	>10	32		40.6 (13)		25.0 (8)		18.8 (6)
Education	Primary	132		75.8 (100)		40.2 (53)		13.6 (18)
	Secondary	230		73.5 (169)	0.001	39.1 (90)	0.306	20.9 (48)	0.057
	Tertiary	179		57.0 (102)		31.3 (56)		20.1 (36)
	No formal	25		72.0 (18)		40.0 (10)		36.0 (9)
Occupation	Farming	123		71.5 (88)		39.0 (48)		18.7 (23)
	Civil servant	77		57.1 (44)		18.2 (14)		14.3 (11)
	Petty trading	63		52.4 (33)		25.4 (16)		19.0 (12)
	Private worker	92		76.1 (70)		35.9 (33)		16.3 (15)
	Fishing	103		86.4 (89)	<0.001	56.3 (58)	<0.001	24.3 (25)	0.094
	Jobless	69		63.8 (44)		46.4 (32)		30.4 (21)
	Retired	39		53.8 (21)		20.5 (8)		10.3 (4)
Ethnicity	Coastal	212		68.9 (146)		27.8 (59)		12.7 (27)
	Grassland	112		61.6 (69)		23.2 (26)		15.2 (17)
	Forest	5		100.0 (5)	0.002	60.0 (3)	0.002	20.0 (1)	0.546
	Sahel	7		71.4 (5)		14.3 (1)		0.0 (0)
	Other ethnic groups	68		88.2 (60)		48.5 (33)		19.1 (13)
Clinical factors
Fever	No		409	69.2 (283)		35.2 (144)		15.4 (63)
	Yes		157	67.5 (106)	0.700	41.4 (65)	0.172	30.6 (48)	<0.001
Malaria parasite status	Positive		157	70.7 (111)		49.7 (78)		70.7 (111)
	Negative		409	60.0 (278)	0.531	32.0 (131)	<0.001	0.0 (0)	<0.001
Parasite load	Low		92	70.7 (65)		50.0 (46)		70.7 (65)
	Moderate		43	74.4 (32)	0.665	62.8 (27)	0.009	74.4 (32)	0.665
	High		22	63.6 (14)		22.7 (5)		63.3 (14)
Malnutrition	No		480	11.3 (20)	0.082	14.6 (52)	0.586	14.7 (67)	0.529
	Yes		86	17.0 (66)		16.3 (34)		17.1 (19)
Inflammation	No		150	67.3 (101)	0.011	44.7 (67)	0.436	22.7 (34)	0.902
	Yes		211	79.1 (167)		48.8 (103)		23.2 (49)

^cCalculated for 407 participants: value obtained by χ², values in bold are statistically significant.