Objective:

iron deficiency anemia is associated with adverse results for health and it is highly prevalent worldwide. The current study evaluated the prevalence and the sociodemographic factors associated with iron deficiency anemia in a sample of Colombian pregnant women.

Materials and methods:

the secondary analysis for the obtained information at the National Nutrition Survey (ENSIN) 2010 of Colombia in a probabilistic sample of 1,385 pregnant women between 13 and 49 years old. Hemoglobin concentration, ferritin plasmatic levels, sociodemographic levels and factors (age, escolarity, socioeconomic level, geographic area, region, ethnic group, tobacco habits), and body mass index according on the weeks of gestation were determined. There were made normality tests, measure comparisons, and association between logistic regression models.

Results:

the prevalence of Iron deficiency anemia (hemoglobin < 11 g/dL and ferritin < 12 µg/L) was 11.0% (CI95% = 9.7-12.6). The highest prevalence was found in pregnant women without any escolarity (19.4%; CI95% = 8.0-33.3), women in a socioeconomic level I (12.7%; CI95% = 10.3-14.9), that live in the Atlantic or Pacific regions (16.0%; CI95% = 12.0-20.4 and 12.7%; CI95% = 8,3-17,1 respectively), and Afro-Colombian women (18.6%; IC95% = 12.1-23.9).

Iron deficiency anemia was associated with living in the Atlantic region OR 7.21 (CI95% 1.71-30.33), Oriental OR 4.50 (CI95% 1.01-20.04), Pacific OR 5.51 (CI95% 1.27-23.88), national territory OR 4.37 (CI95% 1.03-18.57) and belonging to an Afro-Colombian ethnic group OR 2.19 (CI95% 1.40-3.42).

Conclusions:

the studied population presents a high prevalence of iron deficiency anemia and it is associated with the residency region and ethnic group.

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