Correlates of haemoglobin level in mothers of children under two years in Nanton district: A cross-sectional study from Ghana

OBJECTIVES: Anaemia, defined using haemoglobin level, is one of the most prevalent nutritional deficiency diseases among women of childbearing age. Whilst most studies of anaemia were conducted on pregnant women, data are lacking on the haemoglobin level and its correlates of mothers in Ghana. In this paper, we report data on the correlates of haemoglobin level among mothers in Nanton district, Northern Region, Ghana. METHOD: A cross-sectional study design was used to study 420 mothers of children under 2 years selected randomly from the child welfare clinics (CWCs) of five health facilities in Nanton District, Ghana. Women were interviewed on their socio-demographic characteristics, dietary practices, reproductive history, and knowledge on anaemia using a structured questionnaire in health facilities. Haemoglobin values during pregnancy were retrieved from antenatal clinic files whilst finger-pricked blood test samples were obtained and used to determine haemoglobin levels during the survey. Multiple linear regression was used to identify the correlates of haemoglobin level of the mothers. RESULTS: The mean age (±SD) and parity of the subjects were 29.4 (±6.36) years, and 3.36 (±1.78) respectively. The mean haemoglobin (±SD) was 10.35 (±2.17) g/dl and 56.0% of the subjects had anaemia. Multivariable regression analysis identified 12 haemoglobin correlates, but based on standardized regression coefficients, the seven most important correlates of haemoglobin were: parity (β = −0.396), age (β = 0.352), having malaria infection postpartum (β = - 0.340), frequency of fruit consumption (once weekly, β = 0.322), frequency of vegetable consumption (twice weekly, β = 0.296), overall index of anaemia knowledge (richest tertile, β = 0.125), and CWC attendance (β = 0.110). It is recommended to strengthen family planning and malaria prevention programmes, and to intensify education on fruit and vegetable consumption, and anaemia.